The Future is in the Past
by Believing Is The Key 2.0
Summary: Eve glanced at her friends. Ryder leaned against the wall with his arms crossed broodingly while Lewis observed the device intently,"Whatever it does,I hope it won't cause us any trouble,"Eve had the strange feeling she had when she picked up the device, that Ryder had just jinxed it. After time-traveling with her friends, Eve plays matchmaker for her dad, the dense Red Ranger.
1. Practice Fight: Jayden VS Mia

**This is my first Power Rangers Fanfiction and I really hope you like it. I'm still starting out in the Fanfiction Author universe and would like some constructive criticism now and then. I've noticed there should be more Jayden and Mia stories and I can't just stand by while the pairing plummets deeper into obscurity and I appreciate for all those who support Jaymia. I don't see how Jayden and Emily being a couple anyway but they are free to support that couple. We are all free to ship any couple we want. So I hope you enjoy this story. **

* * *

Evagelina Jade Shiba analyzed the odd device in her hands in curiosity.

She was enjoying a moonlight stroll on the beach , finally taking some relaxing moments off from training. Even though no major threat had been detected ever since her parents sealed off the Nighloks and Master Xandred years ago, a little precaution such as training long hours and learning tons of Kanji symbols wouldn't hurt.

Eve was about to retire back to the Zen House when she tripped on something. She dug through the sand to reveal a futuristic object. The base was a sphere with a tube sticking out from the center. The tube seemed to have some sort of liquid inside and the entire device was unfamiliar to her.

"Eve!" She heard a voice call out her name, "Are you out here?" Eve sensed a presence on each side of her. On her right, a dark-haired boy with an unkempt appearance of torn yet wearable clothing stood towering over her kneeling figure. And on the opposite side was another boy crouched next to Eve. His curly blonde hair made it impossible for anybody to look at him directly into his eyes and he preferred it that way.

"Whatcha got there Eve? That better not be a bomb. I don't think your parents would like it if their daughter blew herself up," The dark-haired boy joked while looking at the device.

The other boy scoffed, "I don't think it's a bomb Ryder. All bombs today are in chips not in those old fashion sticks of dynamite or black orbs that needed to be detonated with a match,"

"Then what do you think it is?"

"I'm not sure," Eve said while giving the 'bomb' contraption to the other boy for safekeeping, "But we should get back to the Zen House right now."

"Should we tell Mentor?"

"No, Lewis," Eve said, "We should do some research on this before we involve the other Samurai. I bet it's probably some junk. We don't want them to get alarmed over nothing. We still need to prove ourselves in training,"

"But isn't it part of the Samurai code to be honest?"

"We haven't been exactly living the Samurai life, have we?" Eve looked at Ryder. He stiffened at the mention of what his father did to change the way the Samurai Rangers live. His relationship with his father was all but loving, in his point of view anyway.

"Plus, I have a weird feeling that we should keep this to ourselves. Got it?" Lewis nodded his head more than needed to. Ryder was hesitant before agreeing.

"Fine Eve!" But you're going to be taking the blame if we're ever getting caught. I've just been reunited with my hoverboard and I do not want to lose it again," Ryder said stiffly before marching off the beach floor to where the Zen House stood, on a steep cliff not that far away.

The beach lay near the rock formation so the trio didn't need to walk very far. Rickety and hackneyed wooden stairs led to the very top, giving the impression of a haunted and abandoned hike trail, something to ward off any unwanted guests, any unwanted human guests that is.

Although, the Samurai knew a different and safer way. Leafy plants and moss-covered the secret elevator that could only be opened with symbol power. On their first day at the Zen House, their first test was to learn how to run it. Ryder was stuck at the beach for hours before learning the symbol for 'open' and 'up'

The three kids took out their Samuraizers and with a few dashes, the rocky cliff side rumbled and split apart to show a grand interior of a classy hotel elevator. Once they stepped inside, Eve glanced at her two friends. Ryder leaned against the wall with his arms crossed in a brooding way while Lewis was observing the device intently, "I wonder what kind of power is contained in this thing,"

"Whatever it does, I hope it won't cause us any trouble,"

Eve had a feeling, the same strange feeling she had when she picked up the device, that Ryder had just jinxed it.

* * *

Jayden scrutinized his opponent, searching for signs of weakness. There weren't any...yet. The practice fight didn't even begin but he was more than ready, he had been all his life. He circled his teammate before positioning himself on the mat. He tightly gripped his shinai, the practice staff, then the fight commenced.  
He blocked the first attack in a split second, it was too easy to foresee. He took his opponent by surprise by rolling off to the side and swipe at the feet. His teammate performed a perfect gymnastic aerial to avoid it before turning back to face him and engaged in more combat. The shinai was aimed at his calf but Jayden, again, deflected it. The rest of the practice fight went on like that, with the two opponents having a close chance of beating the other.

It had drawn out for so long, the other Rangers began spectating since their practice fights had already ceased pretty much ages ago.

"How long do you think they've been at it?" Mike, the Green Ranger and resident joker asked Kevin.

"Since training started, I guess. We've already switched partners, three times!"

"I've never seen them like this," Emily marveled at her friends' determination, "It's as if they-"

"-know what they're going to do next," Mike finished off for her.

"Yeah, it's like-"

"-they're so in sync-"

"-the attacks are too-"

"-predictable to each other,"

"Easy guys," Antonio commented, leaning on his shinai casually, "You both sound like Gem and Gemma," He recalled the time when he and the other Rangers (excluding Jayden) were transported to another dimension where a destructive computer virus had taken over the Earth with robot foot soldiers and had met the RPM Rangers. It was a surreal yet very strange experience to find out that there was another Gold Ranger even though he was a childish pyromaniac.

Mike and Emily turned red at the comparison and paid more attention to the fight that was still going on, "I think Mia is almost as good as Jayden."

Jayden overheard Antonio's statement and couldn't help but agree. Mia had adapted to the Samurai lifestyle pretty well and was a challenging and skilled opponent but still had a lot to learn.

"Let's make this more interesting," Mike called out the sparring duo.

"I'm close to beating Jayden, how more interesting could this get?" Mia could barely believe what was going on now, slowly gaining the upper hand. But there was a still a chance Jayden could beat her.

Mike racked his brain for a good deal then finally got it, "The loser will have to do the winner's chores for the next 24 hours,"

Mia grinned but still maintained enough focus to go ahead with the fight, "Deal."

'Deal," As Jayden said this, he shifted into a position where his shinai and Mia's made an X formation. He noticed how close Mia was and his focus wavered for a moment when he made a discovery. He had never realized how Mia's eyes twinkle with such drive, such tenacity. Mia took this moment to her advantage and brought her shinai down on Jayden's abdomen. He stumbled a bit and processed what happened.

Mia Watanabe had just defeated him.

The team cheered and congratulated the Pink Ranger on her victory and giving Jayden pats on the back.

"Great job, Mia," Jayden said to the winner. She smiled and thanked him while shaking his hand.

Jayden accepted the defeat and knew that from this day forward and with the rate of such progress, the team would become unstoppable. Mia had hit a major milestone and was an example to the others that training really had paid off.

And then the GAP sensor rang.

The team rushed into the Shiba house living room in alarm. Ji brought out the city map, "There's Nighlok activity down by the elementary school, hurry."

Jayden turned to his team, "Let's go Rangers."

**I'm sorry with my attempt of a Jayden and Mia moment. That is something I need to work on. I'm psyched for the rest of Super Samurai season and can't wait for Jayden's secret to come out. ****  
**

**Tune in for more chapters!**

***~Bluefire510~*  
**


	2. Three More Rangers?

Chapter 2

When the Rangers arrived at the elementary school, a Nighlok was terrorizing the students and teachers with disruptive music. The monster was the strangest one they had seen so far. It had two large speakers for arms, amplifiers as a torso, and the head was a cross between an ogre and a wolf. It snarled its sharp teeth at the Samurai team, giving enough time for people to evacuate the area.

"Begone Nighlok," Kevin said in his Blue Ranger uniform.

Mike stared at his friend strangely but with the helmets, nobody could tell, "Begone? Seriously?" Kevin swatted him, "Ow!"

"Anyway," Kevin continued, "go back to the Netherworld or else."

"I can't go back just yet," the Nighlok raised its heavy arm and a swarm of Moogers appeared. The team had spread out and each got a group of Moogers to keep them busy. Mia and Antonio fought their way to a bunch of kids huddled at a corner. They herded them to safety before resuming Mooger battling.

"Air Wave!" Mia blew part of the Moogers away with her powerful winds.

Jayden and Mike were the ones nearest to the Nighlok but had to use their Spin Sword Attacks to get rid of some Moogers.

"Blazing Strike!"

"Forest Vortex," The attacks destroyed the Moogers, leaving the others Rangers free to attack the Nighlok. But as they charged at it, the Nighlok released a sonic boom from its amp and speaker body which blasted the Samurai Rangers against the wall.

"Did you hear that?" The Nighlok taunted, "That was the sound of failure. No Ranger has the power to defeat me, Deaferius!"

"We may be down but the fight isn't over," Jayden shakily stood back up with his team doing the same thing. They limped/ walked over to Deaferius. He heartily laughed and turned a dial on its shoulder.

"Want some more? I'll make sure to turn up the volume on this one," With that, the Nighlok let out a high pitch note this time which pierced all the Rangers' ears. Jayden's ears rang. The ringing had masked the calls of his teammates to a distant shout and finally to nothing at all.

The Nighlok had deafened his ears.

Deaferius spoke to them but Jayden couldn't make any sound out of it. With the Rangers' priority set on fixing their hearing, Deaferius powered up for another blast that would sure to put the Samurai Rangers out of business for good when the creature felt a laser bore into it back. It whipped around and there was no one in sight.

Deaferius readied its blast again when-ZING-same thing happened again but this time, but it was aimed for the head.

"Alright, who's doing that?"

"Look over here, ugly!"

Deaferius squinted to see three tiny figures at the playground. Probably a bunch of children. But as the three neared the monster, they revealed to be wearing brightly colored spandex similar to the Samurai. The Rangers couldn't help but stare in awe at the three.

There were two boys and one girl. One boy's helmet had the same symbol as Mike's but his weapon belt and suit color were like nothing the Rangers had ever seen. The taller boy was something Samurai had seen before though, a Gold Ranger. And the girl's suit was a dark pink that looked almost red, her helmet was a replica of Mia's. All of them had blasters in hand.

"Be careful Nighlok, you wouldn't want to be beaten by a bunch of pre-teens," The female Ranger warned before slashing at Deaferius, "Magenta Samurai Ranger!"

Another slash and the Mike-look-a-like wounded the Nighlok, "Turquoise Samurai Ranger!" The mini Gold Ranger copied the same movements his teammates had done before introducing himself, "Gold Samurai Ranger!"

"Rangers together, Samurai forever!" They all shouted.

"Wind Katana!" The Magenta ranger brought out a long sword and started twirling it like a baton. The twirls turned into powerful spins creating a fan. The winds blew Deaferius off its feet and whacked him into the jungle gym.

"Tree Saber!" Turquoise jammed a wooden staff topped with a green pine tree gem against the ground. The tan bark on the playground collected and swirled a vortex, trapping the Nighlokinside before creating a cage.

Deaferius roared and demolished the cage. It turned to the small Rangers and was about to repeat what he had done to the others. The amp fired up and freed a bellowing pitch, but Gold was ready for it. He used the Barracuda Blade to trace a circle around the team in such speed that nobody had noticed he even moved.

The circle made a barrier that rebounded the Niglock's attack. Deaferius was hit by his own blast and collapsed. Explosion occurred after it fell to the floor. By the time it recovered and stood back up, it was already drying out.

"I'll be back. You new rangers are going to be sorry!" With that it disappeared to the Netherworld through a crack in the school's wall.

Jayden, still weakened from the fight, made his way to the three, "Who are you guys?" he asked despite not being able to hear any answer. He could see their bodies freeze at the sight of him. Turquoise and Gold made a mad dash out of the area but Magenta lingered for a moment, seeming mesmerized by the Red Ranger. She shook her head before joining the two.

"_There's something about those three,' _Jayden said in his mind

* * *

Fortunately, the deafness was only temporary. As soon as Ji examined the Rangers and waited for a while for the special ear drops to kick in, their hearing was as good as new. Now they were able to talk about what happened with the new Rangers.

"Did you see how they took on that Nighlok? It was like they knew exactly which attacks to use," Kevin commented as the team gathered in the living room, "but they relied on their weapons and less of their combat skills. When I see their swordplay, then I'll call them Samurai."

Mia arrived with some snacks that would probably be left untouched, "They had the same helmet as me, Mike, and Antonio. Why's that?"

"Is that how we look like in our uniforms?" Antonio asked Mike who shrugged, "They didn't look exactly like us. But that Gold guy did have the same weapons as me. Although, I didn't know my Barracuda Blade could do that."

"Do any of you guys have any siblings that we should be aware of?" Jayden asked the three with the doppelgangers.

"Besides Terry, no other siblings. I would have remembered if I have a sister," Mia replied while Mike and Antonio shook their heads.

"Samurai is a position passed down within family members, with the exception of Antonio,"

"They're aliens, tops," Everyone looked weirdly at Mike's theory, "What? You know how they clone people and stuff."

Emily placed a hand on his shoulder, "You play too much video games Mike,"

"Whoever these Rangers are, they must be related to you guys in a way," Jayden stood up, "I think we all need some rest and figure this out later. But someone needs to wash the dishes before bed. Whose turn is it?"

The Rangers smiled as they looked at each other before saying, "You,"

"I already washed them a few nights ago,"

"But, you lost the fight. So you're going to have to do my chores. Sorry, Jayden," Mia said.

The rest of the Rangers went to their rooms. Jayden sighed and walked towards the kitchen. He heard Ji following him.

"What happened in that practice fight?" Jayden stared at his mentor and father figure curiously. He knew he watched the fight from inside the Shiba house.

"You saw it for yourself, Mia took a chance to attack me while I got distracted,"

"And why were you distracted? You are usually focused Jayden,"

They both reached the kitchen. "Ji, there are a lot of dishes to was-"

"Okay, I understand that you're not ready to tell me yet. But being a samurai, requires following the Seven Virtues, one of them being the rule of honesty,"

"Of course Ji. But it's just that...I don't understand what happened myself actually, When I do, I'll tell you,"

Ji nodded, "Goodnight Jayden,"

"Goodnight,"

Jayden pondered on why he stopped in mid-fight. He and Mia were good friends but during that practice, he felt funny. Training all his life left him no interaction with anybody outside of the Shiba House and Ji so he wasn't able to describe the feeling. It was if once he sees Mia, his doesn't concentrate as much as he usual. Sometimes that would happen with Emily while she spars with Mike.

Mia had told him once that Emily likes Mike and sometimes she's too nice when it comes to fighting him in a worry of him getting hurt. Was it the same with him? Did he hesitate because he didn't want to hurt Mia? Did he like her?

Jayden shook his head of such thoughts. He needed to be focused on protecting the city from Nighlok and sealing Xandred in the Netherland for good. He also needed to focus on the dishes, apparently he spent too much thinking while the water streamed from the faucet. He nearly overflowed the sink but luckily turned it off in time.

He sighed. "_I have to concentrate,' _

* * *

Jayden woke up the next morning, his fingers still aching from washing dishes the night before. If was difficult since Mia cooked that night and his fellow Rangers were kind enough to leave large portions of her taffy, orange and cabbage soup in the dish load. No type of training prepared him for facing such rancid odor. If it smelt that bad, he wouldn't dare to think of how it tasted.

He stepped into the kitchen for breakfast and sat with the others at the table. Before he could get a bite to eat, Mia sat next to him, "Sorry, you still have to do my chores."

"It's alright. You've won fair and square,"

"Are you sur-?"

"-I'll do it. Don't worry about it," Jayden was surprised at his own eagerness. Mia smiled her signature smile of hers and hugged him, "Thank you, Jayden. I was supposed to be in charge of grocery shopping today so I'm going to go and make a list of things we need here to help you out. Maybe some ingredients for my next meal I'm planning for you guys,"

"Thanks, Mia," She walked out of the kitchen. Mike, Kevin, and Antonio smirked at me, even starting to laugh a bit too.

"What?"

"Nothing," The guys dispersed, leaving Jayden to finish his breakfast. A few hours later after training, he was on his way out after taking Mia's list when suddenly Emily caught up with him.  
"Hey could I come with? I need to get some stuff from the store too,"

"Sure," And the two headed off for the market.

* * *

"Are you sure you got the right currency, Lewis?" Ryder asked his friend as they made their way to the register after getting some much needed supplies. Thankfully they still recognized some of the products, some things just never went out of style. The clothes he wore were something he needed to get used to: skinny jeans, leather jacket, and a white t-shirt with some gold designs on it.

"I'm pretty sure. Can you believe that they use paper? This is a strange time," Lewis commented, carrying the basket. He too had on some clothes that would be considered out of style in their time: a long-sleeved yellow shirt with a green T-shirt overlapping and baggy jeans.  
They made sure they got enough food to last them their entire trip. It was important that they were rarely seen. Simple rules of time travel- don't be seen and don't do anything to change the future.

While the cashier checked out their grocery items, Lewis sipped nonchalantly on a blueberry Freezee, "Do you think Eve will like this strawberry Freezee I got her?"

Ryder raised an eyebrow at his friend, "Seriously? Just because she's," he lowered his voice, "the Magenta Ranger, it doesn't mean she likes everything pink and red. I mean, I wear gold sometimes, _sometimes,"_

"Are you still worked up about what I said on the first day at the Zen House?"

"Yes because I happen to take offense to that,"

"Just think about it, have you ever seen our parents wearing something other than their Ranger color?"

"I barely see my dad,"

"And the times that you do...?"

Ryder racked his brain for the latest memory of his dad, which was the day when he got dropped off for training. He was about to go on tour with his band and had on the most ridiculous get-up Ryder had ever seen. A gold headband with black and silver clothing and a lot of eyeliner.

"Now that I think about it, he's never had an outfit that didn't have a speck of gold on it,"

"Ha!" Then the two paid for their purchases and tried to dart out the store. But on their way out, they accidentally collided with Jayden and Emily, who were just about to begin their search for the items on Mia's grocery list.

Ryder and Lewis dropped their bags on the impact and could only stare wide-eyed at the two older Samurai.

Emily was the first to say something, "I'm sorry,"

The two boys scrambled to pick up their bags and tried their best to avoid conversation. Jayden, however, noticed something about the kids seemed familiar to him, "Have we met before?"

"No, no I haven't seen you two before in my life Mentor," Ryder slapped Lewis upside the head for letting it slip. Lewis mouthed 'sorry' before taking off. Ryder groaned then followed him.

Emily looked questioningly at Jayden, "Who are those kids?"

"Let's go find out," Jayden and Emily immediately forgotten about grocery shopping and started after Lewis and Ryder.

They had been running for who knows how long and still no sign of the kids. Jayden was starting to wonder if he would ever find out their identities. They returned to the market to resume their grocery trip. And by the time they got back to the Shiba House, the rest of the team were about to set out a search party of their own. They were relieved to see them.

"Where did you guys go?" Kevin asked, "We thought something happened to you.'

Jayden and Emily had debated on whether or not to tell the others on their strange encounter with the two boys. Emily sworn that one of them looked kind of like her and Jayden tried to think on who they might be. Could it be one of Cody's friends? Why did that one kid call him Mentor?

"Well, some of the ingredients Mia had on the list were difficult to find," Emily said while putting the groceries away.

"Yeah, we had to go to a few different stores," Jayden backed the story up. Mike and Kevin apparently bought it and went to do some other activities, saying stuff like "Call us next time," or "You could have been in danger," Ji and Mia saw through the lie though.

"Mia, what did you put on the list," He asked her. The two were peeking into the kitchen, watching Jayden and Emily organize the food into the cabinets and fridge.

"Pasta, avocado, hot sauce, you know, the works. I could find the items on the list with ease at market. Never in my time shopping that I need to have to go to another market,"

"Something's not right," Ji muttered before leaving Mia at the kitchen door. She continued to stare at her two friends with a growing suspicion.

**A/N: I'm open for any suggestions for how you want this story to go. I wish I've updated sooner but school has been a pain in the neck. **

***~Phoebee~*  
**


	3. Jayden, Antonio, and the Bear

Chapter 3 'Jayden, Antonio, and the Bear'

"You said what?" The boys had arrived back at camp and just finished telling Eve what happened at the market. It took the rest of the day to return to Eve since they apparently ran too fast and too far, ending up on the other side of Panorama City.

Lewis was sheepish and couldn't meet Eve's eyes, "I'm sorry, you know how I always greet him that when I come over. It's just natural to me. I'm so sorry Eve,"

Eve sighed. She knew Lewis had a hard time fitting in already and just being furious with him won't help. She could never stay mad at Lewis. "I know you are. It's just that if he found out, then we're going have to go back to 2031."

"He almost blew it for us, but it's a good thing that we outran them earlier," Ryder said while picking at the fire they made. The three decided to make a camp in the forest to avoid being seen by civilians. It was dangerous but they could take care of themselves.

They conjured up a tent with an old camping kit they found in the Zen House attic, it took a while to set it up considering that it was indeed old and it wasn't automatic.

"And thank you guys for getting the food. I love the Freezee Lewis, but I prefer blueberry,"

"Ha!" Ryder shouted at Lewis, regarding the conversation they had at the register, "Blueberry!"

"Shh!" Lewis and Eve hushed their Gold friend.

"Oh right, sorry guys. But I just don't understand how we went to buy groceries when we could have used our symb-"

"-No. That requires our Samuraizers and if we turn them on, the other Rangers would be able to track us down. We can't risk it," Eve sat near the opening of the tent, "I'll be on watch duty first okay?"

"No, I could do it," Lewis stated.

Eve rebutted, "You and Ryder had a hectic day. I take the first shift, no exceptions,"

Lewis yawned and went inside the camp to rest. He just wanted to help, but he felt like more of a screw up rather than an asset to the team. And seeing Ryder being the tough bad boy and Eve as the fierce leader, he wondered what his use to the team was.

"Lewis?" Eve whispered to him, her back facing him. She would do this at times to avoid her emotions from being seen, which happens often.

"What is it Eve?"

"What did he look like?" Lewis was well aware she meant her dad.

"Well, he wore red."

She laughed, "No, I meant, what was he like? What could you tell from just looking at him?"

"He seemed reserved even though he must have been with the Rangers for months now. He's not open. I'm guessing he hadn't spilled the beans yet,"

"The secret," Eve spoke the word as if it were poison in her mouth, "He's been keeping alot of those lately."

Lewis was too tired to ask what she was talking about, so he bid her a goodnight and snuggled into his sleeping bag.

Ryder heard the entire conversation from his place near the fire, and smiled despite of the tension.

"Those two couldn't be anymore perfect for each other," he murmured to himself. Then he noticed the light of the fire was dimming. He needed to keep the fire going but wasn't much of a nature boy. The future didn't have much greenery. His fingers reached for his Samuraizers in his pocket then remembered Eve's lecture.

"_Come on, just this once,' _Ryder made sure Eve's attention was elsewhere before typing a few symbols and pointing his Gold Morpher at the fire. The flame rose intensely to a point where it could have burned part of the tree's branches.

"What did you do?" Eve angrily marched towards Ryder, making him step back in fear. Even though he towered above her by just a few inches, the tiny girl was sure to give him a hard beatdown. If things got too ugly, she might have used her Wind Katana to slash him into bits.

Ryder gulped, "Well..." he held up his Gold Morpher, turned on and fully functioning.

* * *

Jayden stayed up in the room he shared with Antonio until he made sure everybody was fast asleep, even Kevin. It was 12:15. It wasn't the first time he sneaked out of his room before, so he was sure to be careful when entering the living room. He brought out a map of the city the way Ji always have. But instead of being on the lookout for any Nighlock activity, he was searching for any Samuraizers.

The other Rangers had already tried to track the Samuraizers of the Rangers who saved them the day before, only coming up with nothing. Jayden had the same results when he first turned on the tracker. After a few minutes though, the map got a reading, a Samuraizer was just activated. The current location was somewhere in the forest. Jayden hurried into his room to grab a jacket and sneaked out the door. What he didn't know though was Antonio heard his roommate retrieve the jacket.

"Jayden? What's he up to?" He murmured to himself. The rest of the team had told him Jayden ran away from the Shiba house before. And to make sure history couldn't repeat itself, Antonio pulled on some shoes, changed into clothes fit for his mission, and sneaked out the front door, not that far behind of Jayden.

* * *

Lewis rolled over in an attempt to indulge himself in a deep slumber when he heard bickering from outside of the tent. He rubbed his eyes and poked his head out of the tent opening. Eve and Ryder were in a heated argument.

"What's going on?" he piped up, still drowsy.

His two friends turned to face him, "Mr. Gold and Bold here turned on his Morpher when I specifically told him not to," Eve was pacing, trying to think of the best fitted punishment for him.

"It was only for just a itty,bitty, tiny bit of a millisecond. No harm done," Ryder didn't see what the big deal was. The Samurai Rangers shouldn't be able to track them since they weren't up this late.

"No harm?" Eve raised her voice that would have matched Defearius blast volumes, "You disobeyed my direct order. I specifically told you that you can't use your Morpher for anything. You always try to find the easy way out of everything,"

"How so?"

"Let's count up all the visits Mentor had to make to Juvenile Hall to pick you up, shall we?"

"Why do you always have to bring up juvy?

"Just stop it!" Lewis yelled from the tent, "As long as he turned it off in time, we're safe. Eve, I know he didn't follow your order but it won't happen again, right Ryder?"

Ryder nodded while Eve just groaned and sat on a log, "If anything happens, you would be sorry you ever disobeyed."

"Nothing is going to happen in the forest-what did you guys hear that?" A rustle of leaves came from nearby. The trio tensed up and instinctively took a fighting stance.

"Hello? Anybody there?" Ryder shouted into the forest.

* * *

Jayden treaded onward, nearing the location where the Samuraizer was detected. A loud roar echoed into the forest he was about to enter. He stopped.

"Antonio, did you hear that?"

"Yeah Jayden I do-wait a minute," Antonio popped out of the shadows and clapped his best friend's back, grinning, "I may be a Samurai but I would not make a very good Ninja. This is the second time this happened."

"I'm just making sure you're still following me. And in case you're wondering, I'm not running away. But it's a good thing you're here though, I may need some help," Jayden pointed to the mass of trees, "Somewhere in these woods, the mystery Rangers are hiding," Both him and Antonio had been in the wooded area of the city many times for battles. And Nighlocks weren't the only things hiding in the bushes and trees.

"Are you sure it's safe to go here at this hour?" Jayden took Antonio's words to thought but  
a girlish scream emitted. It came from where Jayden knew the Samuraizer was at. He shared a look with Antonio before rushing into the woods.

* * *

"Lewis, stop screaming," Eve soft voice tried to soothe her blonde friend's fear at what just came bustling on to the campsite. A black bear had probably sniffed out the food Lewis and Ryder had brought in and wanted to have some. On it hind legs, it stood to be 10 feet tall and had its eyes on the food supply.

"B-Big bear," he pointed to the animal stuffing his head inside a paper bag full of groceries. He growled in approval and even devoured a part of the bag. He, Eve, and Ryder were taking shelter by the tent, shielding it and what's inside. Their experience was limited and they had never seen a bear before.

"I thought aliens were our biggest worries, not bears," Lewis was, for once, clueless on what to do. There weren't any bears where they came from, "What do we do? I don't want to hurt it,"

"How about we tell it to leave?" Ryder suggested,

"Could it even talk?" Eva asked.

"Hey, in our time, dogs could talk," Ryder then crawled out of the tent with his friends whispering pleas to have him stay.

"Excuse me, Mr. Bear?" He began. He inched a bit towards the bear, "My friends and I already set this place as our own so if you don't mind-"

The bear roared at Ryder's face causing him to flee back to the tent, "Or stay for a while, that's okay too!" Suddenly, a slight weight had been lifted from his shirt and Ryder's hands immediately flew toward his pocket. He must have dropped his Gold Morpher on the way back to the tent.

* * *

"I think this is where the scream came from," Antonio pointed to a clearing that was lit up by a fire. Both he and Jayden hiked into the forest to find out who was in trouble. They swatted away branches to see the black bear turn their way. It growled and Antonio hid behind Jayden.

Eve saw them from the tent flap and let out a gasp. They weren't supposed to find them. She reminded herself to kill Ryder later.

Jayden carefully walked in front of the campfire and stood his ground, trying to tell the bear wasn't welcomed. The black bear, however, didn't catch the message and swiped at Jayden, scratching his arm. Mike had gone camping a lot to be one with his element and had informed the other Samurai about some tips. Jayden remembered something and decided to try it out.

He spun around and lightly kicked the bear square on the nose, emphasis on lightly. It was barely a tap. The bear whimpered and held its paws that probably meant 'okay, okay, I'll leave,'. It dropped back to a crawling position before retreating. The kids witnessed the whole thing and were surprised on how easy it was to shoo off the animal.

"Hello?" Antonio said as he neared the tent. His foot stepped on something. He picked it up to see it was a Gold Morpher, just like his. He beckoned Jayden over and showed it to him.

Lewis peeked out of the flap and stepped out of the tent. Eve and Ryder followed in suit, knowing they couldn't hide anymore.

"Thank you for getting rid of the bear," Lewis said shakily.

"Who are you kids?" Jayden immediately asked the three. Antonio had placed the Morpher on a log before going over to the mess and picking up the remains of the food supply. He couldn't help but find the situation peculiar, Samurai Rangers in the woods with no parental supervision.

Running away was his first theory but knowing Mentor, they would have been found by somebody by now. And with the many bags and resources they had, they planned to stay for a while. Plus, the way kids were reluctant to leave the tent after the bear had gone off was a something to think about. He returned the food to it original place and walked over to where Jayden and the kids stood.

"Where are your parents?" Ryder stifled an ironic laugh which didn't go by unnoticed. Eve clubbed him in the stomach for it and then replied to Jayden, "Our parents are nearby,"

"Nearer than you think," Ryder's words got him glared by Lewis.

Jayden didn't buy the excuse, "I find it hard to believe your parents are in the area. Considering hearing the bear and we arrived just in time even though we were only outside the woods. Your parents could have gotten here sooner than us."

"It's best to tell us the truth," Antonio suggested.

Eve's eyes flickered from Jayden to her friends and then to the tent. Jayden caught the gaze and crept closer to the tent. His hand went for the opening,

"Stop!" Lewis interjected, giving in, "We'll tell you everything," Jayden stepped away from the tent and Lewis gave a huge sigh.

Jayden and Antonio waited for the explanation.

Ryder stepped up, "The truth is, we're-"

Eve held up a finger to shush him, "Excuse us for one quick moment," Then she called for a huddle away from the older Rangers. "Should we tell them who we are? It could jeopardize future events."

"It was going to happen eventually. But I'm not too keen on talking to _him_,"

Lewis agreed to it too, "I think they can help us with our missions. But it's your call Eve,"

"Thank you Lewis," Eve took a glance back at Jayden and Antonio before finalizing her decision. The huddle dispersed after the choice was made.

"Alright, we will tell you. But not today, tomorrow. Now, we need to rest,"

Jayden nodded before trekking into the woods with Antonio trailing behind, "These Samurai are a bit too young, don'tcha think?" he asked the Red Ranger.

"Yes, they are. But age doesn't matter. It's never too early to be a Samurai,"

Jayden spoke from experience. He was trained in the Samurai lifestyle ever since he was five and he probably could beat Ji when he was 10. Age didn't affect the way the new Samurai Rangers fought. Even Emily, the youngest one of the team, was a true warrior. He wondered why were they called to the Samurai lifestyle so early. They seemed capable of taking care of themselves but they still have weaknesses.

**A/N: Should I reveal their identities or not?  
**

**Originally, I planned for them to meet and confess the next day. But reviews say that I need to keep up this mystery. It's up to you guys. (And maybe plans for a sequel?) That talking dog referred to Commander Kruger from S.P.D.  
**

**Does anybody know when season 2 will air? My hopes were falsely raised for the past few weeks.  
**

**Thanks for tuning in. R&R  
**

***~Bluefire510~***


	4. The Cupcake Cafe

Chapter 4 'Identities Revealed'

Octoroo waddled over to his unstable master with the daily bowl of medicine. The migraines have been occurring more frequently ever since the three new Rangers showed up and were close to fully destroying Defearius. He didn't remember any Rangers with such specific shades before, especially ones who didn't waste time in fighting a Nighlok.

Xandred sat on his mat on the lower deck of his ship with Dayu and her hauntingly, soothing melodies occupying the space.

"Master Xandred," the squid headed Nighlok asked his master as he handed over the milky medicine, "What are we going to do about those Rangers? They seemed to be multiplying by the minute!"

"Silence!" Xandred ordered bitterly. He slurped up his medicine, "To preserve my health for the next few hours, don't mention a word about the Samurai Rangers,"

"But master, their new additions are more powerful than the rest-"

"-Then figure out how to eliminate them! Find their weakness! In the meantime, send back Defearius,"

"Of course," And with that Octoroo left to do Xandred's bidding, but not without sending a few Moogers to tail the Magenta Ranger first. Dayu plucked her strings during the conversation, not caring for the Ranger business anymore. All that was on her mind was Dekker and the life they had shared before their misfortune of being turned into Nighlok. Was there a way to still save him?

Her thoughts paused her music, causing Xandred to notice. Dayu broke out of her daze in time to not engage in any conversation and picked up where she left off. She was a prisoner on this ship for so long, yet it was the only place where she could be at peace. The Pink Ranger offered to help her, had sympathy towards a Nighlok.

How ludicrous! Who could ever want to assist a monster who had nothing else to do but pour out her pain onto her harmonium strings? But sometimes, Dayu would contemplate about what could happen if she accepted her offer. Would her life be different?

* * *

Mentor and the others never found out Antonio and Jayden left the house. Although, Antonio's constant yawns caused the team to wonder if the Gold Ranger had received any wink of sleep the night before. Truth was, after the run-in with the bear and the Mystery Rangers, he kept thinking of where they might have come from, what their intentions were, and why they were being so discreet about it. By the time he wrapped up his time of thoughts, the alarm clock rang before he was able to get a wink of sleep.

He was so tired, he picked up a bowl of what Mia cooked for breakfast and ate it, not minding the horrid taste.  
"Somebody's hungry," Mia commented at the table while everybody else stared incredulously at Antonio's braindead behavior, "Why aren't you all eating?" That snapped them from the staring and proceeded to "eat".

Mike had invented a way to finish Mia's horrendous meals by dropping spoonfuls onto a paper towel he placed on his lap. It would look like he was actually taking bites No one else dared to try this new method in case Mia would see. They all were seeing how long Mike could go before Mia catches him.

"It's a beautiful day today, should we all do something?" Mia asked the group.

"Emily, Jayden, and I have errands to run, remember Emily?" Antonio was fully awake and reminded Emily of plans that had never been set.

Emily understood what Antonio was getting at and nodded, "Oh yeah. We're helping Antonio with some fishing duties,"

"But Em," Mike in a hurt voice, "I thought we were going to skate at the park today." Emily looked pleadingly at Jayden but his eyes said no.

"I'm sorry Mike, maybe next time. This is really urgent," Emily, Antonio, and Jayden were immediately excused from the table after that.

"Since when catching fish became so urgent?" Mike grumbled to himself and sat up, completely forgetting the food on his lap. The PB&J omelet bits splattered to the floor. Kevin snickered while Mia rushed over to help Mike clean up the mess.

"Be more careful next time Mike, I guess spilling food is a habit not limited to elementary school," Mia said. The Green Ranger gave a huge sigh of relief that Mia never found out exactly how the food got there.

* * *

"What's up?" Emily asked the guys. They were outside the gates of the Shiba House. Jayden had informed Antonio on the way back from the woods of the encounter with the kids at the market so it felt right to tell her about the meeting. Then Antonio briefed Emily about the identities of the new Rangers and she gasped.

"No way! The kids from the market? And what about the girl?"

"She seems to be the leader and called all the shots," A beep came from Antonio 's Morpher. He flipped it open and checked the screen. It was a new message. Antonio went on to read the message, "It's from them! We meet at noon at Cupcake Cafe," He then ran off to get his fish cart, "In the meantime, we could go and actually fish. I'll teach you both how,"

They headed down to the docks and spent the next few hours fishing. Well, Antonio was fishing, his friends, on the other hand, were struggling with either putting the bait on the hook or reeling in any fish. Emily's objective was to put the plump, juicy worm on the hook without squealing while Jayden had yet to catch anything. It made them both wonder how Antonio could do this everyday.

Lunch came all too soon for them. Jayden and Emily were eager to go to Cupcake Cafe, but Antonio was in the middle of reeling, "Aren't you coming?"

"Sure, in just a minute though. I'll catch up with you later,"

"Okay," And with that Emily and Jayden went to the Cafe. It was the bakery where the Rangers went to celebrate Dayu's defeat after the whole bride fiasco. It felt like it happened not too long ago. Emily remembered her exact words to Jayden at the same spot in front of the store, "Samurai Rangers, cupcakes are ours!" But they weren't there for cupcakes that day.

Emily scoped out the area for the kids and immediately found them sitting at the patio tables. It was plain to see they didn't want to be noticed, but wearing massive sunglasses and bulky hoodie jackets probably attracted more attention, not a wise choice during the pre-autumn weather in Panorama City.

The Yellow Ranger was deeply concerned about exactly who they were dealing with, "Jayden?" she said unsurely as they neared the table.

"It's okay, Em. If anything goes wrong, call the others,"

Eve saw the older Samurai coming and tensed up as they sat down opposite from her team. She couldn't shake off what happened with Ryder. If it weren't for his mistake, the future wouldn't be hanging in the balance. Traveling to the European Middle Ages would have been less catastrophic. Her father stared at her attentively, expecting a long-awaited answer.

"Who are you three? No tricks or running off, so it's best to tell us now,"

Ryder felt guilty to put his friends in such an uncomfortable predicament, so he spoke on their behalf, even if it meant speaking to his father, "I'm Ryder. The dictator in training over here is Eve Shiba and the Mr. Genius is Lewis Henderson,"

_Shiba,_Jayden thought, _Oh no, how am I going to explain to the team?_Now was not the right time to drop a bomb this big, especially when the Nighlok are now growing stronger than ever. But Jayden eyed Eve more closely and noticed she looked nothing like him. Almost. Apart from her chocolate brown hair and dark eyes, her nose and chin was a noticeable similarity. In what way could he be related to her?

During Jayden's time of contemplation, Emily was comparing Lewis to Mike. Same as Eve, his hair didn't match the Green Ranger's. It was the same shade of blonde as her own hair. The eyes were covered by his coiled locks, so she couldn't determine what color they were. Lewis contrasted Mike in so many ways.

"How are you both related to the Samurai?"

Eve and Lewis were silent. So Ryder answered for them, "They don't want to say it themselves. But we're not from here, this time I mean. We're from 2031."

'_I hope that is part of an address and not what I think it means,' _Emily thought. She had a gut feeling this was heading in a direction that she wasn't prepared for.

Jayden, having understood what Ryder meant, was doubtful, "Not possible," Time traveling was only accomplished by one other Ranger group, but that type of technology is inaccessible, way beyond this time.

"That's what I thought," Lewis broke his vow of silence. He cleared his throat, "Have you ever heard of the Time Force Power Rangers?"

Jayden nodded and leaned forward in his chair. He was slightly amused on how this explanation could go. The benefit of the doubt was still hanging in the atmosphere.

"Well, their time machine crashed onto our beach. The debris is still there, even after 29 years! Eve had found a key component that enabled the machine to time travel. We fixed up our own machine and then came here,"

Eve saw her dad raise an eyebrow. He was still not convinced. Lewis caught this and shuffled through his knapsack for proof. He took out the device he needed and presented it to the group. It had a close likeness to a taser with the exception of its gel exterior. The idea of being surged with powerful electric currents had the Red Ranger spring out of his seat in a fighting stance.

"It's not a weapon," Eve spoke for the first time in this company, "It's a gadget used to conceal one's identity called the Guiser,"

Lewis' finger pulled the "trigger" and a green light beamed from the Guiser's aperture. The light scanned Jayden from head to toe. Then, Lewis aimed the Guiser at himself and the green appeared again only this time,instead of scanning, the light altered Lewis' appearance as it moved down to his feet. By the time the Guiser finished, Lewis was Jayden in any possible way (but not in mind), from his height to his Samuraizer inside his right pocket of his jeans.

Astonished, Jayden dropped his stance and neared his reflection, the perfect look-alike, "You weren't kidding. So if you are all from the future as well as being samurai, doesn't that make you..." His words faltered as the truth finally entered his mind.

"Your children," Lewis finished for him as he switched off the Guiser and approached his mother in regular form, "You're Emily Henderson, wife of Mike Henderson and...my mom,"

Emily's mind hadn't caught up with her ears for a few seconds. She tried to formulate a reply only to have "Wha-what?" come out.

Jayden was speechless. It all added up. Eve must have share his wife's, her mother's, characteristics. Only mystery left is the identity of Mrs. Jayden Shiba. He gathered all of what he knew about his daughter. It was not much, but hopefully it's enough to put the pieces together. Maybe he hadn't even met his wife yet.

So..

Magenta Ranger

Looks out for her teammates

Air Symbol

Chocolate brown hair and eyes to match.

It hit him, "Mia," Eve nodded along with her dad's answer which confirmed his guess.

Jayden had never thought of Mia as more than a friend. Sure, they had undergone two weddings for a mission, but would there ever be a third? He had to admit, Mia is beautiful. Her kind nature gives her the tendency to care for everybody. And for her cooking, well, she is only trying to give her friends something to fill their stomachs with, like a gift of generosity. But about what happened during the practice fight the day before, did he really have feelings for the Pink Ranger?

"I know this is a large bridge to cross, Da- I mean Jayden. But don't tell the other Rangers and limiting contact is best if we want to preserve the future. This is a mistake for coming here and telling you. Unfortunately, mind wipes are still being sanctioned, so this is goodbye,"

'_Sanctioned? Yeah right,' _Eve thought before sliding off her chair with Lewis and Ryder in tow, leaving the older Rangers at Cupcake Cafe to digest the news. Jayden and Emily couldn't move, they couldn't stop them. They were compelled to say something to their children, but no words emit from their mouths. In simple words, their minds were left reeling.

Not long after their children's departure, a waiter approached the table and served them two cupcakes. The two stared puzzledly at their unordered meal, wondering if the young Rangers had forgotten their snacks. Emily gingerly picked up her cupcake, peeled back the wax paper that shielded the pastry, and brought towards her gaping mouth. But Jayden latched onto her wrist before a crumb could touch her tongue.

"Don't eat it," he warned

"Why?"

"Isn't it strange that they asked for only two cupcakes?"

"Maybe one of them isn't hungry?" Emily tried to reason with him. She needed to indulge herself with the sugary treat to prevent her brain from exploding. Just give her a minute to eat the cupcake and think things through.

"But their food supply had been torn apart by a bear last night,"

"They could have gone shopping before they came. We did go fishing for all that time,"

"Those kids had probably moved their campsite deeper into the woods. The hike from there to the city would take hours, especially if they had woken up late. They had most likely overslept since the bear attack occurred pretty late at night,"

"True, but if they beared a vigorous hike then wouldn't they seem more exhausted? Then they would have to get food. And if they hadn't eaten breakfast due to the lack of food supply, don't you think they would have gotten something to-?"

"-Fine!" Jayden cut off the useless argument and exasperatedly seized the other cupcake, He was as overwhelmed as Emily. He could use a few bites to calm down and make sense of the sudden appearance of his pre-teenage daughter.

* * *

"I think they're eating it," Lewis voiced his observations to his friends via his Xel, a multi-use tool that has the same components as an iPhone with the exception of a holograph interface feature. Ryder and Eve were on their way back to the campsite as he lingered in the area to spy on his mom and Mr. Shiba.

Eve regretted setting the lunch meeting as soon as she said it aloud, so she had formulated a plan last night. Knowing her dad, he wouldn't give up the search even if she and her team hadn't shown up. She figured they could tell the older Rangers the truth and wipe their minds with a secret recipe cupcake.

It was brilliant in Lewis' opinion. He could see her mom bring the cupcake towards her mouth. Mr. Shiba stopped her and the two bantered about whether or not to eat it. Mr. Shiba surrendered and was obliged to take bites along with Lewis' mom. His mom smiled slightly as she enjoyed the taste of the cupcake while Mr. Shiba bobbed his head in approval. The memory serum does have a sweet marble taste to it.

"Good," The Magenta Ranger's voice showed signs of relief, "Now we need to avoid any contact. No more fighting Nighlok,"

"Aw come on," Lewis could hear Ryder object from the other line, "I want to kick their butts back to the Sanzu!"

"More defiance from you, then I'll kick your butt back to juvie," Ryder didn't talk much after having heard Eve's threat.

Lewis directed his attention back to the Cupcake Cafe. His mom and Mr. Shiba had devoured their cupcakes. The effects are supposed to kick in instantly. The two teenagers had just disposed their cupcake liners into the trash and were talking about something. No sudden bursts of energy that would have sure to have their heads jerking backwards.

He pushed a few buttons on his Xel to activate the bugs he had scattered in the patio area. After checking the settings, Lewis could hear what the older Rangers are conversing about.

"See, I told you. They just forgot those cupcakes. Nothing dangerous," His mother said.

"You're right," Mr. Shiba admitted putting a hand on his stomach, "I feel a bit weird still."

"Oh, it's just the marble. Now, we have to go tell Antonio what we found out!" Their memories weren't wiped! The two raced out of the the Cupcake Cafe and the bugs' range. Lewis could feel the sweat forming on his forehead. He screwed up and he was supposed to tell Eve about his mistake. Lewis turned off the bugs and switched back to his call with the Magenta Ranger.

Believe it or not, the reason why he, Eve, and Ryder had traveled back in time had nothing to do with Xandred or fighting at all. The trip to 2012 was for selfish reasons. Lewis was curious to learn about how things worked in this time, as in culture, society, and technology wise. He could have looked up the Top 10 Songs in 2012 on his Xel but he would have to pass up an opportunity to actually experience these types of things. Fessing up to his mistake could bring an end to exploring. Eve would coop him up at the campsite while she plans to resolve the issue.

"Th-Their..um..."

"What?"

"Their...memories," Lewis inhaled deeply, deciding what to say,"...have been wiped. They don't remember a thing,"

Eve sighed in relief, "Alright. Now, all we have to do is carry on with our tasks and don't fraternize with the Rangers. But first, we need disguises. I've already got my Guise."

"Anybody in particular?" Ryder asked.

"No. Just blend in. We return to camp by 6, so start going for the woods at 4:45. It's a pretty long hike but only a for a few more days, okay?" Eve hung up her Samuraizer. She and Ryder were at the mall but she took off soon to put the groceries back at camp. She and the guys had went grocery shopping prior to going to Cupcake Cafe and they had stored the groceries near a bike rack. After Eve left, Ryder planned to follow Jayden and Emily.

Then suddenly he knocked into some tall, scrawny guy with hair spikier than his, "Oh sorry,"

"S'okay," the guy replied before being joined by a bulky man wearing a bandana on his bald head.

"Spike, we have to go and train!" said the man.

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot, Uncle Bulk," Spike waved at Ryder before running off with his uncle. Ryder got to thinking about his Guise and decided to save time by speedily scanning Spike with his Guiser as he scampered off. He then aimed the Guiser at himself and metamorphosed into the stranger he had bumped into.

"Now, follow the Rangers!" he said in his new voice. He frowned. He sounded ridiculous, "I guess I'll have to get used to it."

**A/N: Now, I hope that I'm not confusing you. I added in the mind wipe serum at the last minute because I think it would be really helpful later on. And to help you visualize what a 'holographic interface feature' is, think of the movie Iron Man and how Tony Stark uses his hands to control the holographs. **

**Don't worry, there's more surprises to come in **_**Future in the Past **_**including: a new Zord, an epic guitar solo, and a jealous Jayden. **

**And for jiafan, I might write a songfic. If I do, then it's most likely be Two Is Better Than One. Or maybe if I have time I could write both. **

**Really, I'm taking all your reviews to heart. I'm trying to incorporate some of these ideas to make a good story. So, thank you and I won't stop thanking you. Estoy agradecida por revisores (I am grateful for reviewers!)**

***~Bluefire510~***


	5. Dilemmas and Duets

Chapter 5

_Dilemmas and Duets_

Ryder enjoyed strolling around in someone else's body. One perk of being Spike Skullovitch (He found his cell phone) was his hair. Ryder's hair wasn't nearly as prickly as his Guise's. Spike's hair was just naturally...spiky, no need to apply gel. And second, his laugh. Spike had the silliest laugh Ryder had ever heard, and he gets to hear it every time he finds something quite humorous, which is pretty often since 2012 is obsolete compared to his time. And third of all, the cool things in his jacket pocket like a pack of gum ( illegal in 2031), some shades, and a bandana (again, illegal). The Guiser not only replicates a person's appearance but the objects they hold as well. But something about his Guise seems familiar, he might have heard the last name before.

But Ryder knew he should stay on task and tail Jayden and Emily as they head to their destination, probably back to the Shiba House. If he follows them, then they lead him to the action. Ryder couldn't get any more satisfaction from his hi-jinks and pranks against the law. It was the same process every single time he pulled a practical joke: get caught by the police, officer calls mom, and then get put into a cell.

It got boring. So when the time machine was finished and ready to be presented to the other Samurai, Ryder hatched a plan to go back in time to engage himself in the battle against the Nighlok. Fighting was basically his mission, just some excitement that would last him for a week. He had no idea why Lewis and Eve went back in time for.

Ryder just needed to wait before he could jump into action. Eve's rule about not affiliating with the older Rangers hadn't even crossed his mind. All he thought about was having an excuse to draw out a sword.

He was just about ready to turn left on Saban Ave. to go to the Shiba House when Jayden and Emily surprised him by taking a different route. He lagged behind them longer than expected. A few more turns later, Ryder's nose inhaled the brisk sea air. They were nearing the docks.

_Why would they come here? _Ryder was careful not to have the Samurai know he was stalking them. He lingered for a few moments to give some more distance between him and them but not enough for Ryder to miss the direction they were heading in. He pretended to be gazing at the water beside a young fisherman.

The fisherman was struggling with reeling in his catch. It seemed as if had been there for couldn't see his face since it was covered by a hood. His arms quaked like jello and were about ready to let go of his fishing rod.

"Antonio!" Ryder turned to see Jayden and Emily rushing forward to help the young fisherman. He whirled back to look at the fisherman. The pull of the fighting fish had the fisherman's hood shifted to reveal his father's 17 year old face.

_My dad can fish? Since when?_

Jayden tried to urge his friend to let go of the rod. Antonio, determined to reel, ignored his friend and continued to haul it in. This resulted into Jayden having to take hold of the upper part and heave. Ryder could see the force was causing the rod to curve even further than it should. Emily just watched the battle between men and fish, debating whether or not to stop it or join.

It was all over when the rod snapped like a twig. One half of the rod was dragged into the water by the fish. Antonio and Jayden tumbled onto the ground, landing on their backs. Ryder tried to look away and acted like he didn't witness anything but ended up helping Jayden to stand while Emily did the same to Antonio.

"Are you okay, Antonio?" Emily asked. She had found a towel on Antonio's fish cart and began to dab it on his forehead. Then, she took the towel and smacked his face, "Was that the same fish you tried to catch before we left?" she asked, upset at Antonio's actions.

Antonio was still catching his breath, "Yes...I was...trying to..."

It was Jayden's turn to ask,"It was just a fish. Why would it be worth your time and strength?"

"I need to catch it! It's not some fish...it's something else,"

"I think you need to rest Antonio," Emily said, "you probably can't think straight right now." She turned to Ryder, "Thank you for helping. We could take it from - wait. Aren't you Mia's friend?"

Ryder's eyes widened. It finally struck him where he had heard Skullovitch before. He was a gadget tester for S.P.D. He and his family are good friends with Eve's. After mentally slapped himself for picking a Guise the Rangers recognize, he formulated a reply,

"Um..yes..yeah! I am. " _Nice going, Garcia_, "I need to be going-"

"Wait," Emily cut in, "can you help steady my friend here," she referred to Antonio, who was wobbling from side to side, "while we get him some water? Only for just a second and we'll be on our way,"

"Sure. No problem," Ryder inwardly grimaced at the fact of helping his father but draped one of Antonio's arms over his shoulders. Jayden and Emily went off to find a place that sold water.

Ryder had never felt so tense in his days of being a Ranger. He didn't think he would get the chance to speak to his dad during this trip...or his entire life for that matter. Panic took hold of his senses and before Antonio said a word to him, Ryder snatched out his Morpher and drew out some symbol power:

眠る

_Sleep_

Antonio's eyes shut closed and his weight doubled against Ryder's shoulders. His breathing slowed and his body collapsed onto the ground.

Jayden and Emily arrived with a water bottle not long after. They dashed over to Antonio's side and quickly haul his unconscious body up, "What happened to him?"

"I think it's heatstroke," Ryder blurted out, feeling fifty shades of guilt. A loud snore emitted from Antonio, "Um...probably a nasal condition. Nothing out of the ordinary,"

Jayden examined Antonio for any apparent injuries "He's been under the sun for a while now. We've got to get him back. Thank you again...?"

"Spike,"

"Thank you, Spike!" Emily draped Antonio's arm over his shoulder for support, Jayden did the same and they scampered into the direction of the Shiba House.

_Did he deserve that? _Ryder was at war with himself. His dad was never really there for him. Ever since his music career was launched, his ego grew and Ryder was the last thing on his mind. It drove Ryder to the point of performing immature, illegal acts to get a reaction from him before realizing his father wouldn't return from his world tour anytime soon just to hang out with his son or even scold him.

Ryder came to the conclusion that his father's condition didn't matter at the moment, though he was going to be alright. Instead, he was concerned about the feeling he got while watching his dad attempting to reel in the fish. The one thing he finally agreed with his father about is the fact that the he wasn't trying to catch a fish. It was something else.

* * *

Eve had Guised herself as Ms. Koepenn (she found her driver's license) before trekking further into the woods. Weird finding an 80 year lady with a recent hip replacement hiking through the uneven path to her campsite, isn't it? Her aged lungs made it almost impossible for her to carry on, but she maintained her strength long enough to reach the familiar blue tent. The tent cloaked the one thing Eve would die in protecting. She nearly had a heart attack when her dad almost reached inside the tent the night before.

Ever since that night at the beach, the strange device called to her. It would light up her room before curfew, trying to tell her something. Ryder had deciphered the message with it being the instructions to build a Time Force machine. Secretive meetings followed to construct this time machine, hoping it could be useful to the team. The other Samurai were curious, but the three were too cautious to get caught and got away with it.

At first, it was supposed to be a surprise gift to the team, but curiosity soon took hold of the three, so they decided to travel back to the year 2012 for their own personal reasons unbeknownst to each other. Eve didn't plan on telling the boys what her mission was and vice versa. She just needed to find someone and observed this person's actions, hoping to learn something.

'Ms. Koepenn' placed the bags beside the dormant fire pit. Her instincts fired up as she sensed something wrong with the atmosphere. Moogers surrounded the clearing's perimeter. She had been followed!

"You don't want to hurt an old lady, now do you," Eve ducked in time to avoid a Mooger sword and blocked another attack with her purse, "Or maybe you do."

* * *

Lewis searched for the perfect kid to impersonate. It was better than squatting behind a bush and think about the biggest screwup that would sure to haunt him later. Ambling through the playground, he studied the kids that pass by. He didn't want to look too different in his new Guise (height wise and gender wise). He needed to be comfortable with this Guise.

After a while, Lewis found the perfect candidate sitting under a tree and doodling on a notepad near a picnic table. He was probably the same age and was concentrated on his drawing. Lewis fired up the Guiser and casually rolled pass the boy, discreetly having the gadget examine the being.

He hurried over to the other side of the tree. Having the Guiser beam faced towards himself, Lewis turned into the doodle boy. Wondering if there were any differences, his hands flew to his hair, it wasn't the same curly mess but turned into a brushed and neat. Then he touched his nose, it wasn't as pointy as it was before.

"Hello," he tested out his voice. It hadn't hit puberty yet, thank goodness. He wants to preserve his youth, "Salutations,"

Then a man shuffled over to where he was at, "Cody," it was directed to him.

"Um, yeah?" Lewis said. It was probably his dad.

"Family lunch is over, time to come back to school," Cody's dad put a hand on Lewis' shoulder, guiding him over to the car parked near the playground.

"School?" he gulped.

* * *

Shutting off her Guise, Eve, in regular form, performed a backflip. She swiftly deflected the Moogers' attack with her Spin Sword. She turned and blocked another attack. Moogers kicked her out of balance, having her butt land ungraciously on the dirt. She was heavily outnumbered. Then Eve summoned her powers over the air to lift her above the Moogers. Spreading her arms out, she sent a gust of wind to blow the Moogers out of the camp's range.

She continued the fight there, dropping down to feet level and swiping with her sword. It didn't produce any permanent damage, These creatures were tough with their crustacean armor. Eve realized her knowledge of swordplay were limited; she ran out of moves. She abandoned the sword and tried to go with more unorthodox way of fighting. Punching and jumping on Moogers' backs whenever possible wasn't effective either. Luckily, they were drying out and were warped back to the Sanzu river.

The Magenta Ranger made her way back to the clearing, threw the tent flap open, and checked on the miniscule time traveling machine. It was still intact and had 88% of its original power, and by that point Eve wanted to hitch a ride back to the future and forget why she was 2012. But no, she had to face a huge problem. She needed to learn how to fight.

With the Netherworld activity, Eve had to defend herself. She had skipped so many training sessions to help assemble the machine and was out of who would teach her? She couldn't simply enroll in a class, she only had a week. If she asked Ryder to help, he would just laugh incredulously, The fearless leader had no combat skill? The shame.

Eve placed the groceries next to the time machine in the tent. She sat inside, trying to think of more solutions to her problem. Without combat skills, she wouldn't be able to protect her team. If anything happened to them, Eve would wouldn't think of any better alternative than to return to 2031.

* * *

Antonio woke up in the Shiba House infirmary, feeling drowsy. _Did I sleep at the docks? _  
He rubbed his eyes to get a clearer vision and saw the whole team present in the room. They jumped from their seats once seeing the Gold Ranger was alright and awake.

"Antonio, how are you feeling?" Mentor asked while removing an ice pack from his head.

"Now I see why Emily and Jayden had to go with you," Mike said. He was upset about missing out on skating at the park at first, but when Emily and Jayden brought Antonio through the double doors, he became worried.

"Antonio sat up on his cot, "All I remembered was trying to reel in that fish, seeing that Spike guy, and then passing out...or sleep?"

"Wait, you were sleeping? But Spike thought you were unconscious," Emily said, "We couldn't bring your fish cart, but we could get it later."

"You met Spike?" Mia asked, "How is he?" For some reason, Jayden didn't like how Mia wanted to know what Spike was doing and felt wary to like this guy.

"That fish sure was strong," Antonio hopped onto his feet and shakily made his way to the door, "I need to catch it!"

His friends immediately grasped his arms to keep him from leaving, "That's crazy talk," Kevin remarked as he aided the others in setting Antonio back on his cot, "You were nearly drained on trying to catch this fish. No use to tire yourself out when they are plenty of fish in the sea. No pun intended,"

"But this one is important!" Antonio argued.

"How?"

"Um..I don't know yet!" The Gold Ranger finished lamely.

"Antonio," Mia said gently, "You're still sore. Just give yourself time and you'll catch it, okay?"  
He nodded before hesitantly lying back on the cot.

Jayden wondered how Mia does it, have a motherly presence that could calm people down in an instant. He was thinking about her again. Thinking about Mia had been occurring lately and he had no idea how to stop, he couldn't help it.

The team talked to Antonio for a few more minutes until they dispersed to do their own thing. Emily and Kevin went out to take out the trash while Mike headed out back to perfect his symbol power, and Mia had to go into her room for something.

Jayden wasn't occupied at the moment, thinking about whether or not to tell the rest of the team about their children. Knowing Antonio, he would faint. And Mia...oh, he couldn't bear to even think how she would react to having a daughter and being Mrs. Shiba. She might avoid him, this could bring a rift in the team. But Jayden then wondered if that wasn't the only reason why he didn't want to tell.

He was strolling around the Shiba House as he contemplated, but his thoughts were put on hold when he heard music. It sounded like a keyboard. Someone was playing the keyboard. Jayden's head swiveled to find the source, only to stumble near Mia's room.

The door was left ajar and Jayden peeked inside. He saw Mia pressing on the keys of a keyboard and humming the melody. She stopped playing abruptly and Jayden tensed up. But instead of turning around to tell him to leave her room, Mia rose from her bench and chose a notebook from a shelf of many. She scribbled a few things down before proceeding to play.

Jayden turned to leave but the wooden floors creaked under the pressure of his foot. Mia dropped her notebook in surprise and turned to see Jayden by her door.

"Oh sorry, was I being too loud?"

Jayden quickly recovered from his slip-up to answer calmly, "No, not at all. When did you get this?" He gestured to the keyboard.

"It was a gift from Terry. He left town since he finished volunteering at the children's hospital. I've been meaning to turn it on but I've been so busy lately,"

Jayden walked over to the notebook and picked it up, "_I Won't Let You Go,"_he read from the top of the page. Mia snatched the notebook before he could read on.

"Umm...it's a song I'm writing."

"You fight, sing, play piano _and_write songs?"

"Don't forget cook," Mia pointed out.

"_Yeah_, that too," Jayden sat next to Mia on the piano bench, "Let's hear it."

"The song?" Mia stood up abruptly and nearly knocked a few items off her desk, "But it's not finished," Mia wasn't sure if she could share this song with anybody. It was super personal

"Okay," Her eyes then lit up with an idea, "I'll play the song, but you have to sing it with me."

Jayden eyes widened. He regretted coming into Mia's room. Singing was never his specialty. The freshest memory he had of singing was when he was five. Turned out, _The Bear Went Over The Mountain _was the only song he knew by heart.

"I don't know," Jayden shifted his body towards the door.

"Please, Jayden," Mia pleaded softly. The sound of her voice had him turn back to the keyboard.

"Alright, but until you had enough of my voice," They both laughed before Mia propped her notebook on her music stand and played the delicate notes of her song.

(Mia-_Italic,_ Jayden-**Bold, **Both- _**Bold Italic,**_)

_When it's black, _  
_Take a little time to hold yourself, _  
_Take a little time to feel around, _  
_Before it's gone,_

Mia pointed to the next few lines and mouthed, "your part" to Jayden. The Red Ranger cleared his throat and sang,

**You won't let go, **  
**But you still keep on falling down, **  
**Remember how you saved me now, **  
**From all of my wrongs yeah,**

"Alright," Mia kept on playing the same notes, not ready to go into the chorus yet, "Now this next part, we sing together. Ready?" Jayden nodded and leaned forward to read the lyrics.

_**If there's love just feel it,**_  
_**If there's life we'll see it, **_  
_**This is no time to be alone, alone, yeah, **_  
_**I, won't let you go,**_

Sometime during the chorus, Jayden and Mia made eye contact, which nearly had Mia fumble on a few keys. As Mia finished off the final chords, Jayden could hear his heart pounding faster than any beat a metronome could make.

"Wow," Jayden muttered, "I totally ruined it."

"What are you talking about? Jayden, you were amazing!"

"No, I must have been as bad as..._Defearius_," as he said the Nighlok's name, he replayed the music session he just had and realized something, "Mia! I know how to stop Defearius. Let's get the team in the living room and I'll explain the plan."

Jayden darted out of the room while Mia took her time in returning her notebook to its proper place and turning off her keyboard, "If only he knew," she sighed to herself. Then, the Pink Ranger closed the door to her room and stepping towards the living room.

**A.N: Poor Mia. **

**I hope everybody is enjoying Thanksgiving break. The song was 'I Won't Let You Go' by James Morrison. I was thinking about putting 'Two is Better Than One' or 'Enchanted' as the songs, but it wouldn't be a true songfic.  
**

**Here's a sneak peek for a future chapter: **

_**Each Ranger was equipped with some form of musical instrument or object that produces distinct noises. Mike had a large timpani drum he borrowed, Kevin was armed with a violin, Emily was ready with her flute and Mia had her keyboard. Jayden gripped his blow horn in anticipation. If his plan didn't work, they would all be doomed.**_

"_**What is this?" Defearius laughed, "A rainbow orchestra? I bet none of your instruments would defeat me. But let's see how you'll deal with the Moogers first. Attack!"**_

**I hope I'm doing well with this story. I would love to make a sequel, but that's up to you.  
**


	6. Defearius' End

Chapter 6 "Defearius' End"

Both Eve and Ryder were startled when their Samuraizers beeped. The GAP sensors were linked to their Samuraizers, so they knew when and where a Nighlok attack is happening.  
Eve answered hers, "What's going on?"

"I don't know. My Morpher isn't new like yours and Lewis', I can't check coordinates," Ryder said on the other end. Not long after, they heard another voice on the line.

"Hey guys, sorry for not picking up sooner. Mr. Vitar hates it when phones ring during class,"

"Lewis, what are you jabbering about?" Eve asked while reading off the coordinates from her screen, "Defearius is at the marketplace."

"I thought we're not going to interfere," Ryder stated in a high pitched voice, trying to copy Eve's exact words from before.

"We're not," Ryder knew Eve was frowning when she said this, "We need to avoid the area until we know the fight is over," Eve prayed the guys wouldn't go to the marketplace. She was going there to observe the combat skills before finally putting her mission into action,

"Where are you guys?"

"The docks,"

"Um…at school,"

"Geez, you're such a dork, Lew. Even on vacation, you still go to school,"

"Lay off him, Ryder,"

"I was only joking,"

"That's enough joking then. Remember, meet back at camp by 6," Eve hung up and sprinted out of the woods with the marketplace set as her destination. She brushed past trees and leaped over logs and rocks in seconds, but her attempt of reaching the marketplace in time proved to be futile instantly. She stopped at the outskirts of the woods and rapidly sketched out a symbol.

車

Car

A pink Mustang appeared before her. Eve hopped onto the driver's seat and buckled up. Why do I need to take risks today? Turning the key, the engine roared to life. Are kids even allowed to drive in this time?

* * *

The Rangers arrived on the scene just when Defearius blared his signature deafening noise at innocent civilians. Jayden had reviewed the plan to the others prior to leaving and felt bad for including Antonio in this fight when he needed to recover. But he was the only Ranger on the team who knew how to play guitar. Plus, no matter how many times Jayden tried to suspend him from this fight, Antonio diligently stated how it was his duty as a samurai to protect the city.

Each Ranger was equipped with some form of musical instrument or object that produces distinct noises. Mike had a large timpani drum Kevin was armed with a violin, Emily was ready with her flute and Mia had her keyboard. Jayden gripped his blow horn in anticipation. If his plan didn't work, they would all be doomed.

"What is this?" Defearius laughed, "A colorful orchestra? I bet none of your instruments would defeat me. But let's see how you'll deal with the Moogers first,"

Ryder carefully hid behind a fallen fruit stand and watched the Moogers appearing from thin air. He fingered his Morpher, waiting for the opportune time to aid the Rangers.

"What are you doing here?" Ryder nearly jumped out of his skin when a little boy showed up from behind him, "I know it's you, Ryder,"

"Lewis?" Lewis turned off his Guise and his regular appearance returned, "Yeah, now what are you doing here, disobeying Eve's orders if I may add?"

Ryder started making excuses, "Yeah, but..." Then he realized something, "Wait a minute! What are you doing here, Lewis?"

"I knew you would pull a stunt like this, so I came. And I was right!"

"Yeah yeah," Ryder knew he couldn't resist watching the fight. Knowing Eve, she couldn't either, "Eve should be coming soon,"

"What? And ignore her own orders? That's..." Lewis trailed off. A pink Mustang pulled up near the fruit stand with their leader in the driver's seat. Eve hopped out of the vehicle and joined her team behind the fruit stand.

"...not so far-fetched," Lewis finished off, surprised, "Eve?" Ryder paid no attention to the Magenta Ranger's arrival, instead he continued to spectate the fight. The Rangers had already took down most of the Moogers. They would come after Defearius soon.

"I knew you guys want to catch a glimpse of the action, so I came here to fix things," Eve shoved Ryder to get his attention, but he still wouldn't look at her, "Now, both of you get in the car."

Jayden sliced the last Mooger with his Spin Sword. It was time to carry out the plan. Thanks to Mia, Jayden figured that to defeat a Nighlok with a weapon of sound, he needed sound. He had to create a sound that would rebound the Nighlok's attack. He didn't have time to test out his theory, but he formulated a couple of back up plans just in case.

"I guess it's up to me to silence you Rangers for good!" Defearius' speakers were turned bright orange, he was firing up for an attack.

"Now guys!" Jayden sent his team's cue. Plan A: use low tones. If the team could produce a deep enough sound, it could beat Defearius' bellowing noises. This required Antonio, Mia, Mike, and Jayden to play their instruments simultaneously and as loud as they possibly can.

Antonio strummed the lowest note he could play on his guitar, Mike pounded on his drum, Mia slammed her fingers repeatedly on the keyboard, and Jayden sounded out his blow horn. All four of them built a wall of sound that only deflected some of Defearius' oncoming attacks. But the four were knocked to the ground anyway. Thankfully, their hearing was still in check.

Plan B: use high tones. Since Defearius is part wolf and he harbored canine ears, a high pitch noise would drive him mad as would any other dog. Antonio had to participate in this plan as well. He rounded up Kevin and Emily once he stood back up.

"Um, Antonio?" Emily timidly piped up.

"Yeah?"

"I can't play," Antonio whipped to see the Yellow Ranger pointing to her Samurai helmet. He quickly found a solution, "Em, just play the keys," He turned to Mia, could you help us out?"

"Sure thing," Mia drew out a symbol and directed it to Emily's flute. The wind instrument made an ear-splitting tune in unison with Kevin's violin and Antonio's guitar. Defearius' wolf-like ears rang and the Nighlok backed away, but he wasn't surrendering.

"Is that all you got?" His amps and speakers changed into cannons and fired at the Rangers. Fire nearly engulfed them and their instruments as they collapsed onto the ground and demorphed.

Lewis couldn't take the sight of his parents weak state. He wanted to plead with Eve to let them help. But he knew, they were going to bounce back from this setback like they have always done.

Lifting up his head from the concrete, Jayden met Antonio's eyes, "Plan C!" he said to his friend. The Gold Ranger nodded. He morphed and crawled over to retrieved his guitar, which had received a few dents from Deaferius latest attack. Oh that Nighlok is going to pay for this!

"Alright Nighlok, it's time to face the music!" Antonio pulled out a cable and plugged one end to his guitar. He charged at the Nighlok, even though he kept firing volleys of fire in the Gold Ranger's way. Antonio dodged and flipped out of every single blast thrown at him. He even managed to slide in between Defearius legs and clung onto its back.

Now behind the Nighlok, Antonio's eyes searched Defearius' back. It was quite difficult to do so since he was bucking like a bronco. His back was similar to the back of an actual amplifier, a combination of Antonio's two specialties- technology and music. He plugged the free end of the cable into a jack then he called to Jayden, "Headphones, Jayden!"

Jayden tossed Antonio his gold headphones. He caught it and plugged in the jack to Defearius' back as well. Then, he placed the headphones on Defearius' ears. Antonio jumped off the Nighlok and stood his ground. He whipped out his pick and strummed a powerful chord. The team strained their ears to hear the sound that would end this monster for good. But nothing came. Not even the Future Rangers behind the fruit stand could hear anything.

Only Defearius heard it, and how unfortunate was it for him. Antonio had plugged his guitar into the Nighlok's amplike body and as long as Defearius wore the headphones, he would be the only one to hear his own blasting volume.

"Make it stop!" Then in a brilliant flash of light, his amps and speakers fell apart and lay broken on the ground. All that was left was his gray wolf fur.

"Way to go, Antonio!" the team cheered as Jayden pat him on the back. Then, the Red Ranger brought out his Fire Smasher.

"Fire Smasher, Cannon Blast Mode!"

The rest of the team re-mophed and assembled the 5-Disk Beetle Cannon. And with the Rangers' Power Disks in place, it was ready to fire,  
"Fire Strike!" Jayden said as he pulled the Blaster's trigger and sent the Disks flying at the wounded Nighlok.

Once the Disks made contact with Deferius, the energy from the Samurai Power Disks ignited an explosion, swallowing him in a body of fire.

"Oh no," Eve muttered to herself. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a leather bound book. After quickly scanning a specific page, the book only confirmed her worries, "Guys, this is bad,"

Ryder was about to ask what Eve was talking about when the supposed destroyed Defearius grew into 170 ft. giant. The three young Rangers watched as their parents activated their Zords and formed the Beetle Blaster MegaZord. But Antonio remained on the ground, from reeling in the giant fish to shredding his guitar in order to defeat a Nighlok, he was exhausted.

Lewis gaped either at witnessing the Beetle Blaster Megazord or the realization of what Eve was talking about earlier, "This isn't right. They're not supposed to defeat him yet!"

"So, you're saying getting the job done earlier is a bad thing?" Ryder asked, "Think of this as extra credit!"

"No. Ryder, ever since we arrived at this time, we messed with the course of events.  
What do you think would have happened if we haven't fought Defearius, or camped in the woods, or go to the Cupcake Cafe? This could mean big trouble later," Lewis ran a hand through his hair. Ryder had barely caught the sight of his friend's eyes when he had done that.

Ryder brushed these warnings off and took out a miniature model of a crane. It's crimson metallic wings were spread out while it balanced on one foot. He raised his head just in time to watch the Beetle Blaster Megazord fall on its back. Defearius launched an attack that was more than the Rangers could handle. It was time.

"Is that my Zord?" No doubt it was her Zord. Her parents had given the Crane Zord for her birthday, the first ever Zord made by a non-Samurai. Eve had enough, she nearly lost her head. Ryder hadn't been following her orders and kept on doing his own thing. Now, he stole her Zord from her backpack. It was the final straw. But before she could perform severe disciplinary actions on Ryder, he morphed up and threw the crane up in the air. The crane heightened to the size of a Zord. Ryder hopped into the cockpit and fired up the wings.

Ryder, in full Mega mode, steered the Crane to Defearius' eye level. He recognized the controls from the training demo simulation and began to drive the Zord as if he had been doing it for years. Then, the Crane swooped and circled the Nighlok, causing him to focus his attention on the tiny bird. While this happened, the other Rangers in the Beetle Blaster Megazord took this time to stand back up and call the SwordfishZord and the TigerZord to form the Battlewing Megazord. Ryder veered the Crane out of Defearius' reach and let the Zord touch the ground.

Emily could tell from that outrageous act of courage had to come from the child of one Antonio Garcia. She would have to make sure to tell Antonio about that later.

"Mega Blade, Activate!" The Megazord's mighty katana was brought into play. Then the Battlewing shot into the air and brought down the katana on Defearius while yelling, "Flying Flash. Mega Spin, Katana Strike!"

All the rangers spun their power disks and slashed with their Mega Blades. The Megazord mimicked their actions with its own katana and cut Defearius in two. The Nighlok was struck down but not without exploding in a series of well...explosions. The Battlewing Megazord turned away from the damage.

"Samurai Ranger, victory is ours!" Jayden declared.

* * *

Hours later, Eve paced back and forth at the campsite, deciding what punishment to dish to Ryder. Tying him to a tree trunk and set him afloat on a river? No. Suspend him from a high point and whack him like a piñata. Not quite. However, she did like the suspension, but she thought of a different kind.

She had forced him to hand over his Gold Morpher and Guiser before pacing. Eve placed the Morpher in a safe place then fiddled with the Guiser's settings after finally straightening out her punishment.

"Spike Skullovitch?" she read from the latest scannings. She looked at Ryder questioningly, "Congrats on being discreet. Now, stand here."

Ryder, for once, did what he was told and stood in front of her. Eve pulled the Guiser's trigger and the green beam shone on Ryder, transforming him into Spike. Then she took out her Spin Sword and smashed Ryder's Guiser into pieces.

"From now on, you will be Spike for the remainder of the trip and you're suspended from your Ranger powers,"

"Wait, what?" Ryder huffed and put his hands towards his face. It was definitely not his own,  
"Why? I just want to have some fun that's all, tell her Lewis,"

Lewis was on the hot seat now. He looked between Ryder and Eve, whose side to take? When asked to choose or be put under pressure, Lewis tends to over-think things.

Ryder is his best friend and so is Eve. He had been going to the same school with Ryder ever since they were little. Eve is his neighbor and his greatest confidant. It seemed who his better friend was. If he went with Ryder then Eve would be mad at him, and with her being the leader and all. All this pressure got him to say something he didn't want to say.

"Alright! It was my fault. I don't know how, but the serum didn't work. Now mom and Mentor still remember who we are! Don't get mad at me!"

"What?" Eve screamed, forgetting about Ryder for a moment, "How could this happen?"

Lewis still had an angry Eve on his hands, so he tried to explain, "They remembered everything. It's either the serum didn't work or-"

"-Or there wasn't any serum in the cupcakes," Ryder held up the water bottle full of the serum. During Lewis' confession, he spotted the bottle in the trees behind the tent.

Eve took the bottle in her hands, "How could have I missed this?" The water bottle was too similar to the actual water bottles each of them have. She must have picked up the wrong bottle,  
"Wait a minute, how do you know if this is the serum?" she asked Ryder.

"Oh, I marked the top of everybody's water bottles with their first initial. This," he pointed to the bottle cap, "has no initial."

"Clever," Lewis commented, he had thought it was Eve who did that.

Eve hastily stuffed the bottle of serum into her bag, "I'm going to put it in their water supply. Maybe if we're lucky, all the Rangers could take it. Lewis, are you coming?"

"I'm in," Lewis picked up his knapsack and was ready to go.

"What about me?" Eve glared at Ryder, "I want you to stay put, and without your Morpher, I'm sure you will. Today, I lost trust in you. I don't think you should accompany me on missions anymore. C'mon Lewis,"

Lewis nodded, "I just need to get something real quick first, okay? I'll be with you in just a sec," Eve smiled before trekking down the hill. He hastily searched the tent for his Xel, he lost it today. Giving up on the search, he sighed and was about to return to Eve when he saw Ryder picking at the fire, annoyed.

Something about what Ryder did infuriated him. Checking to make sure Eve was not within listening range, Lewis turned to Ryder, he thought about what Ryder had done ever since they came to 2012. Turning on his Morpher when he wasn't supposed to, stealing a Zord, and recklessly controlling said Zord... If Ryder wouldn't listen to Eve, Lewis thought, who knew when he would stop listening to his parents, Mentor, or even him. Eve wasn't the only one who lost faith in Ryder today.

"You messed up big time. Now, why don't you ever listen to her?"

Ryder stood up angrily and got into his face, "Leader or not, I don't have to obey her every command like you always do! Lew, when are you going to man up?"

"Oh it's Lew now?" Lewis had a revelation. He thought back to all the times he had been insulted by Ryder. Maybe his own best friend was the reason he had self-esteem issues, "Not dork, or loser, or nerd?"

"Geez, I was only joking,"

"Joking? Were you joking when you said you were going to graffiti half the city walls? Or when you said you weren't going to get arrested? Or when you said we're best friends? If we were best friends, then why do you treat me like your own personal punching bag?"

"To toughen you up! Ever since you've met Eve, you've been such a weenie,"

"I listen to her, she's our leader and she knows better than you do,"

"No," Ryder glowered at his best friend, as if what he was about to say next was serious, "it's because you're a spineless fool in puppy love. You like her,"

"What?"

"You heard me. And if you didn't have so much of a huge crush on her, you'd be on my side. We're best friends, almost brothers. Why aren't you with me anymore?

"Maybe it's because you've become such a jerk who needs to pull some big stunt. Why do that? Need attention from the dad you never see?" As soon as he said this, Lewis immediately regretted it. He expected Ryder to lash out and punch him.

To his astonishment, Ryder didn't say anything, instead only shifted his body away from Lewis. Lewis knew he hit sore spot. He walked towards Ryder to apologize, but realizing that Eve was waiting for him, he pushed this task aside until the next morning. He turned the other direction and ran to catch up to Eve. Apologizing could wait until tomorrow.

**A/N: I really want this story to go well. Do you think I need to move along? I think I'm really slow on getting to the point. I hope I make up for it in the next chapter where there could possibly a major Jia moment that would be sure to cheer up the back to school blues. **

**I hope everybody had an awesome Winter Break and I wish you all good luck for the upcoming year. **

**I'm so pumped for Megaforce, I watched Ciara Hanna's (aka Gia, the Yellow Megaforce Ranger) Youtube video. She seems like so much fun! **

**And I've been getting some reviews to continue with the Two is Better Than One Story. If you guys have any song requests, I would be sure to consider them for future chapters. I actually planned it to be a one shot. It was my first one shot/song fic so I probably didn't a do a good job with the conclusion, so I can tell why you guys think there's more. **

**Okay, but before I go, a sneak peek for the next chapter is in order:**

"_**What are you two doing here?" Emily asked cautiously as she examined the two. **_

_**Eve fingered her backpack strap nervously under the gazes of her her dad and the Rangers. They shouldn't know about the serum. She stared directly into Jayden's eyes and knew he still remembered her. But what could she do? Force him to drink the serum? **_

_**Lewis tugged on her arm, a gesture for an impromptu escape. They made a mad dash for the door but Antonio quickly blocked their path, "Not so fast ninos," He crossed his arms, "You have some explaining to do," **_

**Bear with me, all of you Jia fans. The next chapter would sure to leave you smiling. Keep the reviews coming!**

***~Bluefire510~***


	7. The Device, the Deal, and the Diverson

Chapter 7 "The Device, The Deal, and The Diversion"

Once returning to the the Shiba House, Antonio was already working on figure out the strange device he found near the site where he and the Rangers had defeated Defearius. Unknown to him or any other person in this time, it was Ryder's Xel. Like Lewis, he too has a Xel. The space-age device had slipped from his pocket during all the excitement of that day. Antonio saw right before the other Gold Ranger took off.

The team stood by as Antonio was working tirelessly in the living room. Emily had set a work table for him since the programming of the Black Box, just in case the Rangers need the Gold Ranger's tech magic. First, Antonio dismantled the Xel, which took longer than expected. The technology was, " Beyond anything in the decade!" he exclaimed excitedly during the examination. But Antonio soon grew weary as he tried to work on a puzzle that seemed too impossible to solve.

Emily raised an eyebrow at Jayden before whispering to him, "We need to tell him," Antonio had missed out on the Cupcake Cafe trying to catch some fish.

"We'll tell him when everyone else leaves," Jayden replied quietly.

Mia's eyes frayed away from the Xel project for a moment to see Jayden and Emily discussing. She couldn't help but remember their grocery trip the other day. They seemed to be getting close lately. She wiped that thought away and continued to watch Antonio fiddling with the wires. Then she felt her stomach grumble. It was almost time for dinner.

"Antonio, you are going to be done soon, right?" she asked.

Antonio gave an assuring smile,"Of course, _chica._ Don't you worry,"

And how wrong he was. It took hours.

Antonio was having a hard time figuring the Xel out. As time rolled on, the team would get less patient and eventually the number six dwindled down to four after Mia and Mike went to their respective rooms for the night. Jayden was doing his best to get Kevin to his room so he, Emily, and Antonio could finally discuss things. But being the determined Samurai he is, Kevin withstood more time than Mia and Mike did.

"Kev, why don't you catch up on sleep?" He shook his head, "It's alright. I want to know this thing is. I've never seen anything like it!" Emily was snoring on the floor, so Jayden needed to act fast. He walked over to the sound system., "Is it okay if we listen to some music while we wait?"

Kevin shrugged, "I don't see why not,"

Jayden searched for the right CD. Mentor used to play him lullabies on his guitar whenever he couldn't sleep as a kid. He had recordings of it in a box near the stereo. Jayden found a red CD cover and knew he had to play it. He put into the player and soon 'Moonlight Sonata' flowed from the speakers.

Kevin began to yawn after one minute passed. Then the full power of the song took effect as his eyes fluttered before finally closing. Surprisingly and humorously, he slept sitting straight up on his chair.

"Goodnight, Kevin," Jayden draped a blanket over him before waking up Emily and pulling Antonio out of working. He brought them over to the kitchen, "Antonio, you'll never believe what we found out today,"

"_Almuerzo!_" Antonio's eyes widened, " the lunch! I almost forgot. What did they tell you?"

Then Emily drowsily explained how the kids traveled from the future and how they happened to be their kids.

"I'm a dad?" It seemed as if Antonio would pass out again, "So you and Mike?" then looked from Emily to Jayden, "and you and Mia?"

"Yes,"

Antonio brought his hand up for a high-five, "Finally, man,"

Jayden didn't return the gesture, "Wait, what's that supposed to mean?"

"It's kinda obvious,"

Jayden was about to deny it if it hadn't been for the alarms sounding. It wasn't the GAP, but security alarms.

"Intruder," Jayden led Emily and Antonio back to the living room. He shut down the alarms before anybody had the chance to wake up. He pounded his fist on the living room table to reveal the map of the Shiba House. He could see two green dots nearing the front door. Both of them had Samuraizers.

"It's them," Emily noted, "What are we going to do?"

Jayden sensed two new strange presences in the house. If this really was his daughter, then she would be sure to catch this coming. The Red Ranger brought out his Power Disk. His next action was done in the favor of instincts and a crazy theory. He whipped around and flung the Disk like a frisbee.

The Disk was caught by Eve, who was standing in the dojo holding her Spinsword with the hilt facing forward. In the hilt, was the Power Disk. She had taken her sword out just in time to catch it.

"Even then," she muttered to herself. Her dad had been playing the Disk trick for as long as she could remember. She learned to never sneak a cookie before dinner because of him. Lewis stood next to Eve, staring at the three older Rangers in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" Emily stepped towards them, causing Lewis and Eve to back away.

Lewis nudged Eve, "Run!"

They made a dash to the door but their path was suddenly blocked by Antonio. Crossing his arms, he said, "Not so fast, _niños," _

In a matter of minutes, Eve and Lewis were hustled outside by their teenage parents to avoid waking up Kevin. Jayden needed a few words alone with his daughter, so he took her over to eh grill/ picnic area.

"Why are you here?"

Eve, like how she was at lunch, was silent.

Jayden thought on how he could get her to talk, "How about this, we duel. Right here. If I win, you tell me what's your purpose is for breaking into the house, if you win, you carry on with your plans, no questions asked,"

His daughter's eyes widened at the word 'duel'. She shook her head.

"Why not?"

"Well..." Eve leaned over, making sure Lewis couldn't hear her, and in a hushed tone said, "I can't fight,"

Jayden almost laughed. She was joking with him, right? But then he recalled how her team relied solely on gadgets and blasters, not on combat skill.

"Really?" She nodded slowly, feeling ashamed, "And you don't want to fight me because of pride, right? How about in a battle, would you sit around and let the city fall to the hands of Xandred? Or would you fight because it's what's right. My father said to me that Samurai must never run away from a battle ,"

"Okay, but it's different. You're my dad, not a danger to the city. And I just need to learn how to fight. I mean, I nearly got creamed by Moogers today,"

"Moogers? And you _fought_ them?"

"Yes,"

"With no true experience? Do you know how completely irresponsible and stupid that was? You should have called for backup or-" Jayden stopped when he realized he was sounding like a father should sound like. He cleared his throat, "On another note, your mother," He scratched the back of his head, unsure, "What is she like? In the future, I mean,"

Eve tilted her head and thought about it, "Basically, she hasn't even changed from now to well...what will be. But with _much _better cooking."

"She gets better?" He asked incredulously which made his daughter laugh and nod, "Just a tad though. She actually got kicked out of culinary school and became a kindergarten teacher." She caught a glint in her father's eyes, it was some longing look she had never seen him have before.

"You're not together yet, are you?"

Jayden was caught off guard. He was supposed to be the one asking questions, "I mean, she's very sweet and very beautiful, and it would be nice if I could possibly get to know her better,"

Eve knew her dad hadn't had the most normal life so his skills on talking to girls is very limited. Skills? Limited? Now where had she heard that before? This gave her an idea.

"I have a way to solve both our problems. You teach me how to fight and in return, I'll teach you how to win mom over,"

Jayden needed this, it wouldn't hurt go on a date with Mia, but to ask her out first...He needed the help. Plus, teaching Eve to protect herself was the least he could do. She is, after all, his daughter.

"Deal," His hand reached to shake Eve's but she pulled hers away in a split second.

"Not just yet," Jayden raised an eyebrow, "I need to know you're committed,"

_Huh? _Jayden thought. Where was she going with this?

"I need to know you want to get together with mom,"

"How?"

Eve smirked, "Shout it out,"

"What? Now?"

"No, 3 years later- Of course now,"

"But I'm not sure I really like her. It could be a temporary crush," Eve raised an eyebrow and Jayden felt stupid, "Oh,"

Meanwhile, Lewis and Emily were talking with Antonio lingering behind them, listening in every few seconds or so.

"So you came here to wipe our minds?" Lewis had finished explaining the situation. He couldn't help it, it was his mom.

"Well then," she continued, "I would like to know my kid before I get my memory erased," She gave him a tight hug and Lewis spilled everything, why he time traveled in the first place and what just went down with Ryder.  
Emily pursed her lips as she ran through the problem through her head, "First, you need to talk to Ryder. And by the sounds of it, Eve is just a friend. Maybe Ryder is overreacting since he thinks he might be losing you to Eve,"

Lewis had never thought of it like that way, "I don't know. But she's been the only person at school who has ever tolerated me and my low self-esteem and Ryder, he just seems to make it worse sometimes,"

"Low self-esteem? Now that is something I'm all too familiar with," Emily told Lewis all about her rough times as a kid. She had gone through exactly what Lewis had to.

"Do you think I could get out of it?" Lewis asked

Emily was moved. She felt like Serena and Lewis was her younger self,

"I know you can because you're a Ranger. All those bullies and mean comments are hard but the responsibility of protecting the world is almost overbearing. Just think, you're brave enough to face monsters every day, I think handling mean kids is won't be as difficult. The things they so don't matter, as long as you have people like Eve and Ryder myself to care for you,"

Lewis smiled and took what his mother said into consideration. Then he was struck with a thought "But, before yesterday, I haven't fought any monster,"

Antonio knelt beside Lewis, "Really?"

"Yeah, you did Seal Xandred away, you know?" Emily and Antonio gave each other surprising wide-eyed looks. This was news.

"How?

Lewis opened his mouth to answer when he heard footsteps from inside the Shiba House, nearing the front door. The others heard it too. Eve hid behind the table while Lewis was pressed up against the shadows.

"Hey guys," it was Mike.

"Hi Mike," Jayden, Antonio, and Emily surrounded him to block his view of the front yard,

"What are you doing out here?" Mike asked Antonio, "I thought you were working on that gizmo."

"Oh, we just needed a break," Jayden called up, "coming out here and breathing in this fresh night air."

"Oh cool. Can I join you guys?" He walked over to the table Eve was hiding behind, "No!"

Jayden's outburst startled Mike, "Um… break time is over. Antonio is going back to work, aren't you?"

Antonio nodded speedily and shoved Mike inside the house with Emily and Jayden following. Emily stomped her foot twice, signaling to the kids to make their escape now. Mike looked at the three suspiciously once they were at the living room, "Are you guys okay?"

"Of course," they said together.

Mike decided to leave this until morning. He yawned, "Well in that case, I gotta hit the hay. Later." And with that Mike returned to his room to sleep.

Lewis waited before running over to the gate but turned to see Eve going towards the front door,"What are you doing?"

"I left my Samuraizer in there. Go on without me," Then she entered the threshold. She spotted her Samuriazer on the floor and went to retrieve it if it weren't for more footsteps coming from the hall. Jayden's eyes widened as he saw Eve inside the house and was about to send her away when Mia sleepily emerged from the hallway.

Eve quickly snatched her Samuraizer and hid behind a practice dummy once hearing the footsteps.

"You're all still up?" Mia said while staring at Kevin's up right sleeping position in confusion,

"Anyway, I came to check on how Antonio's doing."

Antonio jumped to Mia's side, creating a diversion, "Actually, I have noticed a few amazing things about the core. Here, let me show you," He guided Mia to the living room worktable.

Eve almost stepped away from the dummy if it hadn't been for her nose. Dust covered the entire backside of the dummy. Before she had the sense to cover her nose, a loud 'Ah-choo' emitted from her nose. It echoed, though it did not wake Kevin. It, however, did make the rest of the Samurai Rangers jump. Everyone's attention was directed towards the dojo.

"What was that?" Emily asked, acting dumb.

Mia craned her head to look and had even crept towards the dojo. Antonio mouthed to Jayden, 'Do something!' with much hand emphasis.

Jayden trusted his instincts for all his risky moves. But what he did next was so impulsive and so daring, that he soon regretted it as he done it.

He stepped in Mia's path to the dojo, grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her in for a kiss. Mia's eyes widened before experiencing the full power of the kiss. Jayden couldn't describe the kiss in any other word except for 'woah', which was what he said after he pulled away. This was a whole new experience to Jayden for he had never felt anything like he was feeling. That kiss was his first and to have Mia as a part of it made it special in a way. It roused new feelings for both Mia and Jayden, feelings they hadn't recognized before.

It was over in seconds, though neither one of them wanted it to be. They broke apart and Jayden looked at Mia, scared she would lash out and never speak to him again. But the Pink Ranger only appeared dazed with a smile playing on her lips.

Eve jumped on this chance to escape. She quietly tip-toed over to the door, but not without giving her parents an odd look before she left.

"Um...," Jayden tried to figure out what to say, "that was for helping me think of the plan to stop Defearius. Thank you," Mia blushed and was so flustered she could barely form a sentence,

"Well...um, t-that's you see. What I'm trying to say- I mean you're welcome?" She bid her friends goodnight quickly and wobbly walking to her room. Jayden turned to Emily and Antonio. Antonio was cracking up while Emily was wide-eyed.

"Jayden, do I get a thanks for defeating the Nighlok too?" Antonio joked and puckered his lips.

"Go to bed!" Jayden ordered smiling. Then the Gold Ranger left his work on the table and went to the room he shared with Jayden, and soon after Emily placed a hand on Jayden's shoulder and bid him a goodnight.

Jayden ran his fingers through his hair and tried to think about what Mia was probably thinking right then. He sat on a living room seat and dwelled on it. He hoped he didn't make things awkward for the both of them.

Kevin felt the need to wake up just then. His head shot up and he snorted, "Woah, where did everybody go?" he asked, seeing that everybody had gone to bed, "What did I miss?"

Jayden grinned, "A whole lot Kev,"

* * *

Eve caught up to Lewis and they both arrived at their campsite really late into the night. They threw their stuff inside the tent and were almost ready to sleep. Eve went over to Ryder's sleeping bag to wake him up and let him know she and Lewis had returned. She was still furious at him but that didn't keep her from talking to him.

"Ryder," she shook him. But no response. Eve unzipped the sleeping bag to find pillows stacked on each other, "Lewis!"

Lewis emerged from the tent, "What is it, Eve?"

"Ryder's gone!"

"What?" Then Lewis asked Eve to hand over her backpack, the secured place where Ryder's Morpher was. It was still there, though he saw two books and some pens. He would ask Eve about that later.  
"What about our Guisers?" Lewis checked the backpack again. Eve's Guiser was there as well. Lewis patted his pocket, his was present.

"He won't be as dangerous then. And he is obviously still in the area, he wouldn't know how to use the time machine,"  
Eve sighed, "I guess we'll leave him alone then. He just needs to blow of some steam for a while. He's coming back soon, don't worry,"

With that, Eve stood watch while Lewis slept. Eve was on high alert that night, waiting for Ryder to return. She was aware of her surroundings, all except for a GAP. Tiny and inconspicuous it was though was big enough for Octoroo to eavesdrop on the Rangers' recent conversation.  
"Time machine?" Octoroo had heard enough, "Ooh-ah-ooh, I must tell Master Xandred!"

* * *

The next morning was the awkward aftermath of the kiss. Mike and Kevin were the only ones left in the dark but soon began inferring what happened. The dead giveaway was Ji cooking breakfast; Mike didn't take it as a clue but as a miracle. He immediately pigged in, grabbing most of the pancakes and sausages.

Jayden looked at Ji in concern; it was usually Mia who made breakfast. He didn't ask and quietly ate his breakfast nonchalantly. Kevin sensed something was off.

"Mentor, have you seen Mia?"

"Oh yes, she was here not too long ago. She said she was going for an early jog and didn't feel like cooking," Ji replied while frying another batch of bacon, the team's favorite, including Kevin.

"Has she come down with something?"

"No, I don't think so. But there seemed to be something on her mind. She was knocking into furniture as she left,"

Jayden felt his cheeks heat up under Antonio's knowing glances as well as Mike and Kevin's questioning stares. Emily was trying to level with the tension by chattering up a storm, which proved to be a bit annoying than helpful.

"So, have you ever wondered why most of Earth's oceans haven't been discovered yet? Right? Do you know Kevin?"

Jayden quickly excused himself from the table, packed shinai and other training necessities, and walked out the door. He had a promise to keep and needed to make things right with Mia. On his way out the gates, his Samuraizer beeped as he received a text. Flipping it open, he saw it was a message from Eve.

_Meet at these coordinates. Bring Emily too._

Jayden was already late, having turn back to the Shiba House and taking Emily with him took 10 minutes. (It would have been 5 if Mike hadn't been insisted on knowing where Jayden and Emily were going). Checking the coordinates again, the location was far. So similar to the way Eve scraped a new means of transportation during Defearius' second attack, Jayden had no choice but to ask Ji for the keys to his motorcycle.

Ji, skeptical at first, gave him the keys and Emily and Jayden were off. Mike stared at the two as they zoomed away on the motorcycle. The motorcycle cleared the gates just when Mia returned from her jog.

"Jayden?" She said after the motorcycle whizzed past her. She walked to where Mike, Ji, and Kevin were, standing at the doorway, "Where are they going?" Ji said nothing while Kevin shrugged. Mike, however, had a fierce glint in his eyes, "I get it,"

"Get what?"

"Don't you see? The hushed conversations, the cancelled plans, secret errands! It's obvious; they're in a secret relationship,"

"What?" Ji, Kevin, and Mia exclaimed together.

"No, that can't be," Mia tried to convince Mike to think differently, but she was more trying to convince herself not to believe it, "Antonio has something to do with it too,"

"Trying to cover up for them, I bet," Kevin said, now buying into Mike's theory.

"You know what? I'm tired from my jog. I'll be heading to my room," Mia didn't want to continue this conversation anymore.

There was no doubt she was hurt. She had always like Jayden, and from the kiss she thought he might have liked her back too. But now, she was not so sure.

* * *

Eve spent the early hours of the day hunting for a perfect place to train. She found the perfect clearing that eventually opened up to a cliff overlooking the ocean. Something about this area seemed oddly familiar. Lewis found that true as well. He had no trouble navigating himself through the woods to get to the clearing. He wanted Emily to be there because what she said to him really struck his thoughts.

Especially the part about Eve.

Now Lewis started to see her differently and can't help but admire her qualities. She was clearing out the area of branches and logs. The way her hair would fall free from her ponytail and drooping to one side of her face. The annoyed expression she made when she had to blow the strands away which Lewis found cute. And especially how her pale complexion- wait, what?

Lewis quickly snapped out of it when he noticed that Eve skin was paling. Not only her skin, but her clothes and hair were paling too.

_As if she was a ghost._

Then it happened, Eve started to become as translucent as a ghost. Lewis could almost see through her, "Eve!" he ran towards her and grabbed hold of her hand. It was solid and definitely alive.

"What are you doing?" She snapped, showing color and returning to normal.

"Um never mind," Lewis promptly let go of her hand. It could have been some trick of the light that he saw. Subsequently, a roar of an engine, a sound not usually heard in the middle of a forest, interrupted the serene silence.

Jayden and Emily shot out from the green on Ji's roaring motorcycle. Eve clutched Lewis' arm in a heartbeat, an act that hadn't gone unnoticed as a sign of fear by Lewis, a first for Eve to show true fear in front of her friends.

The motorcycle skidded to a stop and Jayden hopped off with a bag and a couple of shinai. He tossed Eve one, saying only the words "Let's spar." And with that, a routine was created out of something that should have never happened.

**A/N: What's going on with Eve? What do you think?**

**And sorry for all the late updates. I needed to catch up my other stories with this one. And ideas for 'Two Is Better Than One' are still needed. I was thinking for writing a chapter using the song All I Ever Wanted by Airborne Toxic Event, but I'm not sure if I could find a situation that could match with the song. Listen to it though. It's really good. **

**Expect a chapter soon. I spent all of this time trying to get my ideas rolling and I might have gotten too far thus making a few extra chapters. So, again, sorry for the delays but don't you worry. I'm not dead. I hope you are all satisfied and think this chapter was worth the wait. **

***~Phoebee~***


	8. The New Routine

Chapter 8 "The New Routine"

Ryder stared at his new reflection on the murky city waters. He had been running all night, trying to get as far away from Lewis and Eve as possible. He knew that once he told Lewis of his suspicions, things would never stay the same. And there is one thing that Ryder absolutely hates more than anything in the world and that is change.

Watching the birds soar over the docks and the sun peaking out from the tallest skyscraper in the city would be considered beautiful picturesque sights to others, but Ryder was sick of it. He crushed the soda can he had drunk out of and tossed it into the water.

"Hey!" Ryder turned around to see his Antonio tugging along his fishing cart with a merry grin and a task at hand, "Don't trash our seas! Do you know that some of our food comes from the water?"

His father parked his cart right beside him and he prepared for a catch, "Well, I'm sorry I'm dirtying the oceans. But where do the fish go to the bathroom again?"

Antonio laughed, "Point taken,"

Ryder observed the items his father had with him, a tin bucket and a brand new fishing rod. He peered inside and found an ample amount of bait. It looked like it could last for a week, not one day.

"What's with the fish grub?"

Antonio plucked a worm from the bucket and pierced it into his hook. Then, he cast the line into the bay and watch it sink until it was in deep, "You were there when you saw it," he said in morose tone

"What? The fish?"

"It wasn't a fish,"

"Then what was it?"

"I don't know," This chat was similar to the one Antonio had with his friends. Thinking this where to end the same, Antonio shut up and waited for a catch.

Ryder felt the need to say something. He had nowhere else to go and the silence made this situation awkward, "Well, I can see why you think so. It was too powerful to be a fish, but it's highly improbable to say that it was a shark or a whale since the Great Whites are all at Hawaii. "

"I know, right?" Antonio grinned. _This kid knows his stuff. No wonder he and his uncle caught so many fish. _He devised a plan, "Hey Spikey, what do you say on helping me catch this thing?"

Ryder hadn't much experience in fishing, however, he did learn a thing or two in Aquatic Science. That was the one subject he didn't absolutely fail. But the idea of being with the man he hates didn't suit well with him.

"Nah man, I have to go and do…stuff," was the best Ryder came up with. Then he sauntered off.

Antonio crossed his arms, "Oh I see, are you afraid? This fish might be too strong for you."

Ryder stopped, "Say that again?" He spun around to face him, "_Please,_" he said with fake sincerity. Hearing his old man call him afraid touched a nerve, "I'm not afraid."

"Then fish," Antonio knew he was going to go for it. When a man calls another man chicken, then it becomes a battle of pride.

"Alright, I will. Give me a rod and some bait so I could show you how it's done," Antonio searched his cart for an extra rod and gave it to him then Ryder indignantly put the bait onto his hook.

"Woah," Antonio whispered to himself, "this kid is crazier than me."

* * *

"From. The. Future?" Xandred's thunderous voice upset the Sanzu River, rocking his ship violently from side to side. Dayu went to fetch the Master his medicine to appease his rage. Octoroo had just reported about his recent discovery of the three new Rangers.

"Octoroo," Dayu snapped, "You better tell him everything right now or else his migraines will get worse!"

"Alright, alright," Octoroo shuffled to Xandred, "And that's not all. I also overheard that in the future, you _will _be Sealed." The most terrible thing anybody could ever say to Xandred. The Netherworld King roared in anguish at the thought of being sealed again. That meant more migraines. Dayu swatted Octoroo for angering the Master again, "Nice going, you riled him up so much that he probably won't ever stop screaming."

"Wait, I have a plan," Octoroo hushed Master Xandred so he could hear his ingenious plan, "Those Rangers from the future probably used a time machine to get to this time period,"

"So?"

"Well, a time machine could travel throughout all periods of time,"

"I'm well aware of that Octoroo!"

The loyal servant shook his head and shouted, "Don't you see? Using this machine, we could go back in time and eliminate the original Samurai Rangers! If there are no Rangers, then we could conquer!"

Master Xandred stood up, "Yes! Then nobody is to stop us. We could have flooded the world a long time ago!"

"Finally! Score one, Octoroo!"

Dayu rolled her eyes and had to stop this craziness before it starts, "But aren't you forgetting something Octoroo?" She conjured up an image of the Rangers' campsite, "This area is more protected than the Shiba House. None of your enchantments would work. And even if you managed to get in there, how would you be able to operate the machine? Technology isn't exactly your forte."

"But, I do have everything planned from beginning to end. It's complex, it's elaborate, it-"

"-Needs to work or else you would be thrown off my ship!" Xandred finished off, "Now, proceed with your plan,"

"Of course Master. First step, let's get to know these New Rangers better,"

* * *

In three locations, a routine had unknowingly began. For the next few days, Jayden and Emily would ride Ji's motorcycle to the clearing before breakfast. There, Jayden would train Eve from noon to 4PM while Lewis would converse with Emily and sometimes head for the city. About the same time Jayden and Emily depart to see their kids, Antonio would walk to the docks to fish with "Spike" until 4PM as well.

After 4, Eve and Lewis usually searched for Ryder while their parents returned home. And while all of these things happen, Octoroo would have spy on them through the GAPS and learn more about the enemy each day.

It had been nearly a week since the new Rangers' arrival. They had spent more time than needed to in the past. Traveling to 2012 was a mistake, a mistake with huge consequences.

Time travel comes with consequences, and not knowing what you're doing could impact the delicate fabric of space and time.

And that was exactly what they did.

**A/N: Hey, everybody. The wait for updates seemed so long for you guys. I am so sorry. But to make up for it, I will be posting probably two new chapters this week. I want to finish the story so I could work on my other stories, and of course the sequel. I still have trouble coming up with a great title. By the next update, I will post a poll for you guys to vote on which should be the title. **

**You might have caught the Mighty Ducks quote I added in there. **

**And for the thank you's. THANK YOU for all the reviews and support. I miss Samurai too, Guest who reviewed on March 7, 2013 for chapter 7. I hope that Saban makes the crossover, I heard they might be making one. **

**Life is tough, so busy and full of activity, isn't it? It seems when you tackle one problem another one sprouts up, and the cycle repeats. But I guess, that's what makes life well...life. And I wouldn't have it any other way. All I know, nothing is going to stop me from finishing what I've started.  
**

**So, don't worry. I will be finished with this story. **

***~Phoebee~***


	9. The Secret Oak

Chapter 9 'The Secret Oak'

Eve sighed. She was strolling through the city's streets, searching for someone in particular. Not Ryder, just someone else. It was very important if she could find this person and would mean a lot to her if she could have a word. It was one of their daily searches for Ryder, or so Lewis thought Eve was doing.

It was not as if she didn't care for her friend. She did and wanted to apologize for her harshness. Though truth be told, she was thinking of -

Eve lost her train of thought because she was suddenly met contact with the ground from a sudden collision with another walker. She looked up to see it was Lewis, or Lewis's disguise Cody to be exact. She knew it was her dear friend from looking at the raggedy knapsack hanging from his shoulder.

He held out his hand to pull her up, "Any sign of him?" Eve lightly pushed the hand away and stood up on her own, "Nah. But by this point, I'm not sure he's even in the city anymore,"

"I'm worried about him. He wouldn't disappear for this long," Eve remembered the time he had his hoverboard taken away from him for destroying public property. He made a run for it and didn't come back until two days later. 2 days was the maximum. But now, he had been missing for 4.

"Do you think he's-?"

"No," Lewis was firm, "He can't. I need to find him and apologize," They both ambled down the sidewalk, passing by all the colorful shops full of ordinary people with regular lives. They were times when Lewis wished for that kind of life. One where he didn't have to learn combat skills to protect the world.

"Apologize? For what?" Eve asked.

"Well, we got into a big fight because he made the most ridiculous accusation that I-" He stopped. Not that he didn't want to say that Ryder thinks he had crush on Eve, but for the fact that a group of burly boys were across the street and were glaring at Lewis. His fingers trembled and sweat started to form on his face. Eve noted this was alarmed, were there Moogers around?, "What's the trouble, Lew?"

Her eyes followed the path at which Lewis was staring at and saw the boys. Eve's first instinct was to block Lewis from their view, it was something she had always done for him at school. She clutched his arm and guided him in the other direction.

Together they speed walked down Myers Street. Lewis turned his head and saw that Eve's trick failed. The boys were on their tail and were jogging up to them, "Oh no, they're still mad."

"What did you do?"

"Remember when I said I went to school as Cody? Day that Defearius was destroyed?" Eve nodded, "So, during science class, those guys were my lab group and they made me do the chemistry lab for them. I guess I got sodium hydroxide confused with sodium chloride and- Boom!"

"Then why are they out to get you?"

"Apparently, I created a new type of acid. Then I bumped the table," Lewis sheepishly admitted.

Eve finished it off, "Let me guess, a destroyed mp3 player, 2 phones, some textbooks, and...a table,"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"It was on the news!" Eve laughed then saw how nervous Lewis was getting. He was sweating up a swimming pool and his arm was starting to get slippery under her grip, "Deep breaths, Lewis. You don't want your Guise to wear off don't you? Sweat is partly water you know?"

Those were the key words that triggered Lewis's brain.

"That's it! I need to sweat!"

"Excuse me?"

"Eve, how far are they?"

"About a few feet,"

"Perfect,"

* * *

Digby was on a rampage. He and his friends were out heading to the diner for a soda when he saw Cody and some girl walking down the street,

"Woah, dude," one his friends pointed to the two, "Isn't that Laslo?" This resulted into a thump in the head, the courtesy of Digby. Laslo was the nickname for Cody since his last name was Laswell.

"I'm not stupid! I see them."

"Well, aren't you going to get him?" Digby was a part of "Cody's" lab group that day. It was his mp3 that had destroyed. The damage was irreparable. His dad had gotten furious and made him work to pay for a new one.

Digby didn't need to answer, so he went in after them. It was in his nature to give a beat down. Once Cody and the girl took the corner, he and his buddies ran faster. The two looked panicked as they were getting away from them. Diby smirked, he wanted his victims to be scared.

The chase went on for five minutes, with neither side catching up with the other. Then, it happened. The pair Digby had been chasing quickly turned around to face them. Digby stared at them and instantly felt like a moron.

"Dude!" Digby's friends were groaning and slapping Digby upside the head, "You need glasses, man? That ain't Cody!"

Eve smiled politely, "Oh excuse us. We're in such a hurry to go to the library. C'mon Lewis," she then added quietly, "Sorry, he's a bit disoriented. Ever since that...flying corndog hit him in the face yesterday," Eve inwardly winced at her terrible lie. But it least made Digby and his gang back away from them.

She and Lewis rushed of the area. She could hear Dibgy trying to convince his friends that he really did see Cody. Lewis must have heard too. They were both laughing their heads off on the way to the park.

"It worked!" Lewis shouted while jumping, thrilled to escape what pain those boys planned to inflict on him.

"Yeah, but now you're all sweaty," Eve made a disgusted face. In response, Lewis playfully shoved Eve, something he rarely did during their lengthy friendship. She smiled at him and ruffled his hair.

"Well, what do you know," They both stopped walking. Eve gazed at Lewis in awe.

"What?"

"I've known you for all my life and I never knew your eyes were blue," She took a glimpse of them when ruffling his hair, "It's a beautiful blue. A bit like the sea.

Lewis adjusted his hair to hide his face again, "Oh really?"

"Yeah. Why hide them?" The two found a bench to sit on. Lewis laid his head back and let out a big sigh. Eve could tell it must have bothered him that bad,

"Come on, you can tell me,"

Lewis put his face into his hands, "If you haven't noticed already, neither of my parents have blue eyes."

"So?"

Lewis straightened up, "So? I'm the runt. Nobody in my family has blue eyes and besides, no one really notices since I never look at anyone directly in the eye. I'm never that confident, like you."

"Like me? Lewis, you are confident and brave. You need those qualities to be a Ranger. And besides, I'm not the hardcore warrior people think I am." Eve confessed.

Lewis found that hard to believe. Besides that minor scare on the first day of training with Jayden, Eve was solid as a rock, "C'mon, name one time."

His friend shied away from the command, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Hey, I still don't know much stuff about you either," then Lewis had an idea, "My mom would do this to try and get stuff out of me whenever I do something bad and won't tell her. Follow me." He held out his hand towards her. Eve was unsure. It was her problems for her to deal with. But she was curious. Eve begrudgingly took it and had Lewis lead the way. He led her through a maze of trees and paths before reaching a giant oak tree on a hill.

The tree frightened yet amazed Eve. It sprouted from the ground and knew exactly where its branches needed to stretch and curve, creating a perfectly shaped tree. Sunlight broke the leaves, creating a spectrum that could only be seen from just the right angle. It was fairly tall and seemed to bend towards her as if it was straining to get a good look of its visitors.

"I used to go here before the city decided to pave out the forests," Eve nodded, still looking at the tree. She remembered back in 5th grade, the forests that surrounded the northern and western parts of the city were bulldozed over for some project. The project had been shut down midway and the damage couldn't be undone.

"My mom would take me to this very tree. C'mon," Then he jumped and clutched onto the lowest branch. Swinging on it like a monkey, he hauled himself up to sit atop of the branch.

"You're the kid who would get fried during Astro Ball. Yet, you have some wicked upper body strength?"

"Yup. What do you expect? My mom's Zord is an Ape after all," Eve laughed and followed his example. She soon sat beside him. The view from the tree was beyond any beautiful thing Eve had ever seen. The hill overlooked the entire park, she could see the lake, children on the playground, all to make a happy atmosphere.

"I could see why you want to keep this place to yourself. The perfect hideaway,"

Lewis nodded, but he was more focused on the tree. Nostalgia took over and suddenly he was 4 years old again, the age when his mom first took him to the "Secret Oak". He would give anything to bring this tree back in his time. With all his insecurities, the tree would have been a nice spot to calm down.

"So, what did you bring me here for?"

Lewis snapped out of his thoughts and turned to Eve, who waited eagerly, "This tree is for telling secrets. My mom and I would pick a leaf," He then found a spade shaped leaf on the branch above and waved it in front of Eve's face, tickling her nose and making her giggle. Her eyes widened, surprised she could produce such girlish noise,

"Then, we write our secrets onto them," Lewis flipped his Samuraizer and drew a couple of symbols on the leaf. He clutched the leaf tightly in his hand, "Eve, in what direction is the wind blowing?"

"North,"

"Which is the direction we're facing. Watch," Lewis unclasped his fingers, setting the leaf free. The wind swirled the leaf away, soaring above the park, "I don't know how or when, but that leaf will come back. Wherever we are, whatever we're doing, the leaves will always come to the person who needs to know the secret. When they do, it's time to talk about it. That person will help you through it."

"Interesting," Eve stated, mesmerized by the leaves. She was a bit skeptical on doing this, "I don't have to tell you any of my secrets."

"I would have to read about it eventually," Lewis said, "but don't worry. By the time it reaches you, you'll feel alright about sharing."

"Ok," Eve took a leaf, wrote some symbols on it, then set it free.

"What was is it?" Lewis leaned over and joked.

"You'll know in good time,"

Lewis decided to leave it at that, then plucked another leaf from the tree and scribbled something on it. But this time, he showed Eve, "It's about Ryder. I might as well show you."

Eve read the leaf and afterwards all she could say was, "No way."

"His dad was trying to catch a Zord, a very old and very powerful one. The Koi Zord. He never caught it. Mr. Garcia was never the same after that, relied on his music and eventually making it big in the business."

"Does Ryder know?"

"My dad said I should not to tell him. It's best that he doesn't know, since he could try and change it,"

"Why would he do that? His father still loves him. Whenever parents are away, they still love their kids, right?" Eve's tone grew shrill and Lewis knew something was bothering her.

Not knowing how to reply, Lewis only nodded and released the leaf with Antonio's secret into the wind, "He might as well know now," he said Eve grew quiet before suggesting they should head back. They clambered down the tree and strolled out of the park and into the woods. In the midst of the night and the silent walk, Lewis felt Eve hold his hand. He looked at her but Eve stared ahead, though he detected a hint of a smile on her face.

By the time they reached the campsite, it was already dark. Lewis volunteered for the first shift and Eve obliged. She curled up like a cat on her sleeping bag, ready for sleep.

"Lewis," she called sleepily, "Thank you for taking me to the Secret Oak. Only if we still have that tree in 2031."

"You're welcome. Goodnight, Eve," He heard her give a quiet 'goodnight' before sleeping.

Lewis had seen Eve's many of firsts in one day. He saw a more vulnerable side of Eve that day and felt closer to her than ever. He didn't show the Secret Oak to just anybody. He knew that Eve was special to him and hoped that from that day on, they could become the best friends they claimed to be.

* * *

Mia sat outside on the front yard, thinking about what had been happening lately. Jayden, Emily, and Antonio would disappear somewhere and upon returning, there were no words were said concerning where they went or what they did. Jayden and Antonio would be nearly spent while Emily brought home goodies from bakeries and cafes.

She demanded to know what was going on. Mike was ticked off. His eyes didn't gleam the way they whenever he saw a sugary treat and especially Emily. And when both came through the door, all he could do was excuse himself outside to train. Mia knew Kevin felt disconnected from everyone else. With Jayden gone, he had no sparring partner to challenge him, and while Mike was out training Kevin had no one else to talk to. There was Ji, but it wasn't the same as talking to someone his own age.

And for Mia, she couldn't talk to Emily as much. It saddened her that her best friend would go behind her back. She would be okay if she and Jayden were dating, if Emily told her. Maybe get a little bit jealous...alright, maybe she is _very_ jealous. Honestly, Emily knew she liked Jayden. Then why would she go after him?

Mia felt someone creeping up behind her. Instincts kicked in and she grabbed a broom on the ground and held it against her attacker's throat.

"I surrender!" It was Jayden. Rare to find him out here, Mia thought. And he was joking. Even rarer, "I figured you would want company out here."

"Um..." Mia thought of what to say, should she plainly say no? "Okay," Or pretend the last fews days did happen and happily accept. Obviously, she chose the latter.

She set down the broom and sat down on the bench, facing the moon. She had enough drama in a week that could last a lifetime and would rather not speak about recent events.

"You seemed kind of distant today,"

"Today?" Mia asked sharply, "_Today?" _She rose her voice, "This entire week you've been going off somewhere. Never telling us where you're going,"

Jayden sighed and tried to formulate some sort of apology/explanation, "It's something really important I had to take care of. I can't say what I've been doing. Sorry."

"But where's Emily during all of this?"

"She's with me-"

"I knew it!" her voice shout cut through the ever so still night, "Mike was right."

"Mike? What?"

"He had this theory that you and Emily are secretly dating. It's true, isn't it?"

"What? Me and Emily?" Jayden shook his head, "No, no, no. You have it all wrong. Why would you agree with him? You've seen the way he looks at Emily and the way she looks at him. Emily likes _Mike_ not me. And plus, she's like my little sister. It would just be wrong,"

"Oh," Mia felt stupid,"I'm sorry. I thought you were a bit of jerk since you kissed me then supposedly went out with Emily. " The conversation was going downhill from there, "Um...I better go inside. It's getting pretty late."

"Mia, don't go," Jayden said, almost begged, "Um...I mean, it's a nice night and I figured we could talk."

"Really?" Inside, Mia was beaming. But deciding to suppress her excitement to seem calm, she curtly said, "Ok."

The two sat quietly for a moment. It was a nice kind of quiet. A chance for them to come up with something to say to the other.

Mia figured it was time to discuss what happened a few night ago,"So... ?"

"So..."

"Yeah,"

_Awkward. _Mia was trying to indulge on the topic a little further but couldn't find the right words to say.

"So...how's the song coming along?" Thank goodness. A change of topic, if you counted the last exchange of words a topic.

"What? Oh, right. It's great, yeah," Another series of silence ensued.

"Well, if you ever need a duet partner, you could always come to me...unless you would want Ji to sing with you," Mia laughed, just the thought of Ji singing was so funny. She could imagine him with a mic, trying and failing to sing Bruno Mars on the karaoke machine, "No, I prefer for him to play his guitar. Hey, maybe if Terry and I teach everybody how to play instruments, we could form a band!"

Now this caused Jayden to chuckle, "What would you name the band? The Samurai Rockers?"

"Or maybe Katana Slash?"

"Do you want this to be a heavy metal band?" Jayden asked incredulously. Mia couldn't stop laughing. This was the funniest chat they ever had, "I was thinking Mia and the Windmills,"

"That's nice," It was quiet again. But when Mia locked eyes with Jayden, they exploded into a fits of laughter, "If we were in the 60's!" Mia admitted, cracking up.

"Hey, at least you'll blow the audience away!"

Mia never thought Jayden would be making cheesy jokes like this. And she never would have thought they spent the rest of the night talking, fooling around, and knowing a bit more about each other. They even, amidst all the silliness, they played 20 questions.

"Favorite snack?"

"Pop Tarts," Jayden replied as if it was an obvious answer.

"How come I've never seen any Pop Tarts around the house? This doesn't count as a question by the way,"

"Well, Ji had to rid the house of Pop Tarts ever since I puked during training when I was 8. Or so he thought," he leaned and whispered into Mia's ear, "I have a stash in my room."

"Really?" Mia asked incredulously. With every question she explored deeper into Jayden's past and was happy to know that despite his Samurai duties and being secluded from the rest of the world he had been a normal kid. He had done bad things and goofed off.

"My turn," Jayden furrowed his eyebrows, "Let's see, worst punishment you've ever gotten?"

"It has got to be the one time when I brought something that I should have for show and tell- my Turtle Zord!"

"No way. Seriously?"

"Yeah. But I didn't present that day, and when my mom found out she made me stand outside in the backyard and not come back until I've mastered half of my required symbols,"

"That's not bad,"

"It was raining,"

"Oh,"

"Well, I learned not to make that mistake again,"

As the questions grew to a close, it had gotten more serious and less playful.

"What was your favorite memory?"

"It has got to be...when I was volunteering at the daycare center," Mia smiled, she remembered the events as if happened only yesterday, "I was playing with a couple of kids that lived in my neighborhood. And then I saw a black SUV pull up in the parking lot, having the Shiba family crest on the door. I didn't know that once stepping inside that SUV, I had left a normal life," Mia admitted. She was grateful for being apart of the Rangers, but sometimes she wished she could go to the mall without getting interrupted by a Nighlok attack.

"So, what's yours?" she asked.

Jayden was back to his distant self. She saw the way his face was fixed in a numb state. He could be feeling many emotions all at once but his demeanor won't allow any to show. Mia thought that it was the end of talking. She brushed off her jeans and was ready to call it a night when Jayden spoke,

"Paper airplanes,"

"Excuse me?"

"Paper airplanes. My dad and I...used to sit out here and make paper airplanes. Just the two of us,"

Mia sympathized for him and put a hand on his shoulder,"You miss him so much Jayden, though you talk so little of him. It's hard for one person to keep so many things inside. Maybe if you could just let some of these feelings out, talk about them."

"Really, Mia?" Jayden asked, " It's just...I don't want to burden people with my problems. There's too many for one person to deal with."

"How would you know? Have you tried talking to somebody?"

"No. Not really,"

"Well, that's going to change because you have me. Anytime you have something on your mind, come by my room and we'll talk and have fun just like tonight,"

"Thanks Mia,"

"It's 2 in the morning! Why are you two still up?" The two Rangers whipped their heads to the front door where Mentor Ji was standing in his robe. Mia stood up and scurried inside and whispered a goodnight to both Jayden and Ji. She turned to see if Jayden was coming but he lingered outside for a while with his hands in his pockets, grinning at Ji.

"What?" Ji asked.

"Nothing," Jayden walked over to the door, "_Bruno Mars," _Laughing and sharing a look with Mia, he went to his room, leaving Ji to wonder what that meant.

* * *

Ryder was at the docks when he saw the leaf.

It was nighttime yet he still remained with a fishing pole rested on his shoulder. Antonio had gone home hours ago. Today wasn't successful, just how the past days had been. It came to the point when Ryder thought about giving up and returning to the campsite. He sat on a blue foldable chair Antonio had brought for him, taking in the views of the city lights. Sometimes he would cast a line just to grab fish, as some form of entertainment.

From the dim lighting of the docks, he spotted something floating on the water.

Mildly interested yet severely bored, Ryder took a fishing net and fished it out for it wasn't that far away from him. Ryder then took a cap and place it on top of his head, it gave him a sense of a comfort knowing it was on his head. The only thing he had when he left the campsite.

He splashed the net into the water and scooped it up. He brought it back to the docks. Picking it out, he huffed, "Really? A leaf." Ryder was about to throw it back, but after full inspection, he saw kanji symbols written on it. He read it.

What seemed to be an ordinary leaf had the message that changed Ryder's attitude. Just a minute before, he was about to give in and call it a day. He found out the truth about his father. He lost his confidence in himself and nearly quit the team. The man Ryder hated was not the same man he had spent the past few days with. Now Ryder had a chance to change his future. Or possibly ruin it.

* * *

**A/N: This is chapter is pretty much about memories and childhood. Alright, as I promised, another chapter. I was trying so hard to make the final chapters perfect. Yup this story is going to end in like 5 chapters or so. **

**Ok so for the possible sequel names: **

**1) SPD Classified: Code Samurai **

**2) Samurai, SPD, and Time Travel **

**3) Samurai Patrol Delta: A Chase Through Time**

**Vote for which one you want for the sequel because I'm...indecisive. The poll is on my profile. And for guests, just vote in your reviews. **

**Plus, I found this really amazing song that would go with the Secret Oak bit. Roots by audiafauna. It's truly a great song. **

**I need to tweak the 10th chapter. It could be ready by tomorrow night. **

**I have another announcement: I will be gone from the 17th-21st. I'm heading to Disneyland! So that's why I'm leaving you with the 9th (this one) and 10th chapter.  
**

**Thank you very much. Don't forget to review. I love reading them. **


	10. Like A Ghost

Chapter 10 'Like a Ghost'

Lewis had a revelation one day. It was the discovery that would forever change the future. Or what's left of the chance to have one, that is.

He was eating out with his mother. They discovered a quaint bakery on Main Street that was Lewis' favorite. One day, the bakery's business would expand to create a scrumptious company that sells amazing bread flavors that have yet to be created. With this in mind, he couldn't help but slip a few ideas to the owner the last time he went.

Emily ordered a small pumpkin pie for her and Lewis to share. It was when he picked up his fork when he knew something was wrong. He tried picking it up, thought it slipped through his fingers. He looked at his hand; it was dulling and was semitransparent. Lewis remembered the day Eve resembled a ghost and he had thought it was some sort of trick.

"Oh my gosh," Emily saw this too and put a hand on Lewis' face. His skin felt silky and wintry It was as if she was feeling the wind. It wasn't long until other people caught sight of Lewis. Some pointed and stared. Lewis had sworn he heard 'albino' amidst the whispering.

Emily grabbed her son's wrist and together they ran towards the park. On the way there, Lewis regained his color and solidity. They were near the playground when Emily stopped and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Fine, but I felt a little woozy back there,"

"Fine? You were about to disappear back there!", Emily was scared for her son,

"Disappear?" Then Lewis had a brain blast. He had an epiphany, "We have to go to the clearing. I need to tell Eve this- wait, mom?" Emily wasn't beside him. She was running to the front of the mall. Moogers were causing some commotion over there.

Emily had already morphed up and was taking care of herding people away from the danger. Lewis followed in suit and began slicing and dicing Moogers. It was his first time to use swordplay in an actual setting, it was quite thrilling yet so frightening. Emily stood in front of her son, protecting him.

"Lewis, get out of here,"

Lewis swung his sword and brought a few Moogers down. He calculated his next move before executing it with near perfection, "No, I'm not leaving you here," Soon, he was back to back with Emily, "It's just one thing I don't get though."

"What?" Emily then flipped over a crouching Mooger and slashed its' armor.

"Moogers...with no Nighlok," Upon hearing these words, the Moogers backed away from the two Rangers and escaped through a GAP.

Lewis and Emily demorphed and stared at the GAP in puzzlement, "What just happened?"

"You should go back to the clearing, Lewis. I need to go to the Shiba House and tell the others of the attack,"

Lewis agreed and they went in separate directions. On the way to the clearing, Lewis was running over the past events through his mind. It all started as a mistake, a childish dream to travel back in time. Then with one mistake, another came and then another. Things start occurring that never should occur. The fact that they were in 2012 was the start. Then it was interfering with Defearius, the Guises, the training sessions, etc.

The thoughts were rattling through his head, desperate to find an answer. So many concerns emerged as well. But the main worry was Ryder. What if this happened to him? What if he faded completely? Maybe that was why they couldn't find him.

Lewis decided to go searching for him. If he couldn't find Ryder this time, then he was a goner.

* * *

"It didn't work!" Master Xandred yelled at Octoroo, "The plan to lure the Rangers away from the time machine failed with the Moogers,"

"It was only one try," Dayu droned from her place on the deck, "You could never take over the world on the first try, you would know that very well, Master," Octoroo had been constantly watching the Rangers through the GAPS and observing them like a scientist. He studied their strengths and weaknesses were. It took nearly a week. No Nighlok was summoned to wreak havoc for that time. But to keep the Rangers on their toes they sent a daily batch of Moogers. _If they haven't figured the pattern by now..._

What Xandred didn't understand was that the Moogers were just a test. Those Moogers that the Yellow and Turquoise had fought were called back immediately because Octoroo's surveillance duty was finally completed today. Now it was time for phase 2.

Octoroo ignored the activity happening in the room and proceeded to inch towards a leather chest that he kept in case of emergencies. He opened it and cautiously brought out an ivory stained cup coiled in scales of what was rumored to be a gigantic sea serpent, the first Nighlok to have ever strike fear in the humans.

"What is _that_?" Dayu asked while Xandred, on the other hand, knew very well what the object was.

"This here is, the Chalice of Deviation, the key to the entire plan Master Xandred. Now after observing those new Rangers, I'll know exactly how to use the Chalice,"

"Octoroo! Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Xandred yelled, fully aware about the power needed to activate the Chalice.

"Master, I'm sorry but you need to activate the Chalice. Only _your_ energy source could,"

"Fine!" Xandred was irritated and wanted nothing more than to just eliminate the Rangers.

* * *

"Ready?" Jayden asked. He twirled his staff and took stance on the mat. He had been training Eve for three days. Those three days had been filled rigorous warm ups that could drain one's strength before the real exercise began. He took all the basic technique Ji had taught him when he was his daughter's age and fashioned it into a five hour training course. To his surprise, it only took two hours for Eve to learn it, so for the remainder of the sessions Eve would teach Jayden a thing or two about her style of fighting. This exchange of techniques should make this fight interesting.

Eve stalked onto the mat with her staff in hand and lips sealed into a thin line. She was very serious. Having inherited her mother's creativity, Eve expresses it through her fighting (and fortunately, not cooking). Six years of gymnastics and training had prepared her for this and she didn't plan on losing.

"Ready, Big Red" she confirmed. Eve walked further down the mat until she met her father at the center.

Jayden struck first and Eve raised her shinai to have the tip cover her shoulder, blocking the attack. She pushed Jayden back to give herself space. Using her shinai for support, Eve jumped as if she was pole vaulting and kicked her father from her horizontal position. Jayden stumbled back but was not brought down.

Eve advanced with her shinai but Jayden saw it coming and intercepted it and used his free hand to clench his daughter's wrist. He was pressing his shinai on hers and she was forced into a kneeling position. The next thing Eve knew, her head was on the ground with Jayden's staff on the back of her neck, locking her in. Her foot shot out and swiped Jayden. His grip on the shinai went slack as he fell on his back. It dropped a few feet away from him. Kneeling, Jayden was set on retrieving it only to be halted by the surface of wood he felt on his neck.

Looking up, Jayden could see Eve had him trapped. She won. Or so she thought. Jayden rose up slowly as if he was going to surrender, but he surprised Eve by performing a backflip and knocked her shinai away. Both Jayden and Eve raced to get their shinai. They fetched their weapons and spun around to have their staffs meet in an X.

They clashed and continued on without any new tricks, plain traditional. The shinai clanged together, almost in a rhythmic pattern. And if you happened to be hiking in the woods and heard the sounds of drumsticks beating onto each other, you would be entranced by the beat and might think it was a woodpecker since the clicks never lasted for more than two seconds and by then, Eve and Jayden's shinais have clanged together at least fifty times.

The fight drawn out from a few minutes to nearly half an hour. Neither one was out of energy until the last few moments of the fight. Everything ended when both Eve and Jayden had to steady themselves with their shinai. They could barely stand.

It was a tie.

Eve set her staff down as Jayden did the same. She handed it him a water bottle and began to point out her mistakes as she dabbed her face with a towel, "I know my posture wasn't correct and I was shaking during that block, I know. I'll have it down by tomorrow, I promise."

"What are you going on about?" Jayden said loudly, "That was amazing. I've seen your little mistakes but overall, that was great fight"

"It's because I have a great opponent. I've never seen you fight like that. You even used my backflip move, something I liked to call 'Round 2!" Jayden had never been one to break tradition, but Eve's tips and moves would surely beat the Nighlok. And for once, he had fun during training, "Round 2?"

"Yeah. It was a funny story, so Lewis and Ryder were-"

_BEEP_

Jayden frowned and checked his watch. It beeped, _4:00._

"I have to go. Same time tomorrow and we'll work on _zanshin_,"

"Jayden, could you not leave just yet? I need to live up to my end of the agreement," Jayden remembered the advice Eve was supposed to give in exchange for the training sessions. He must have had such a fun time training that he forgot to ask for the advice. He could spare a few minutes.

"Sure," Eve perched herself on a bench (made from symbol power) with advice ready to be given, "So, mom has no clue that you have these feelings for her. If you treat her like the rest of the team then she'll continue to think she's just a friend."

Jayden nodded, understanding, "What do you suggest I should do about this? I don't know what to talk to her about."

"Spend more time with her. No other teammates around," Eve paused to think then snapped her fingers once she figured it out, "Take her to the movies. The movies is a perfect setting because if there's a period of silence, mom would think you're watching the movie. She would never notice you running out of things to say. And afterwards, on the way home, you both could talk about the movie. Hopefully, that would lead to different subjects of conversations."

"How do you know all this?"

"To me, this is the most logical solution to your questions," Honestly, Eve had no idea where all this was sprouting from. She would never normally think like a matchmaker or a hopeless romantic. She was continuing to surprise herself in 2012.

"I don't know," Jayden said, both hands in his pockets. He wasn't sure if he had the courage of asking Mia to the movies. Give him a Nighlok with an impenetrable shell or a Red Ranger from another dimension any day. Asking out a girl, especially a fellow Ranger, would sure to make him back down from that challenge. He was scared.

"Come on! You had me go on a 10 mile hike in the forest, and when I tell you to go to the movies you suddenly quake in fear and quit. I pushed my respiratory system to the limit. You should be the one to push your limits as well. You're Big Red!" Eve hurried to pack up her things in her bag and made the bench disappear, "You better be at the cinemas tonight."

"How would you know if I don't show up?"

"I'm going to be there of course,"

* * *

Ryder was at the docks with Antonio when he saw Lewis.

He didn't say hi to him of course. He was still mad at the intelligent Turquoise Ranger still. Instead, Ryder quickly turned around and tapped a sleeping Antonio's shoulder. His dad had been resting on the fenced border for a few minutes. It was his daily nap.

"Hey, can you go and grab us something to eat? I'll pay you back,"

"Oh sure," Antonio groggily replied before walking off.

"Nah, I don't have money," Ryder laughed. Then took a cap and place it ontop of his head. Then he took a fishing pole and acted like he was preparing to cast. Lewis was only a few feet behind him. Ryder glanced at him to see he was on his Samuraizer.

_Probably talking to Eve_

Ryder scoffed but eavesdropped on the conversation anyway.

"Eve, yeah it's me. I'm looking for Ryder," _They were looking for me, huh. Why would they care?_, "I know, I know," Lewis said, "But he could have disappeared. No, not like that. I mean as if he didn't exist. I need to tell you more about what happened today Eve," _As if I never existed_? _I guess it's Eve's dream come true._

"What is it Eve? Really? I never thought about that before," _Eve knew something before Lewis did. Gasp, the world is falling apart. _Ryder thought sarcastically with a smirk.

"Wow. His stuff is still there and...I could use a new shirt,"

Ryder whirled around, "Don't you dare touch my stuff!"

Lewis hung up the phone. It turned out he wasn't talking to Eve at all, just a ploy to get Ryder to hear him, "I know you can't help but eavesdrop."

"If you came to apologize, I'm not having any of it," Ryder turned to face the bay.

"But I am sorry," Lewis walked over to stand beside him, "What I said was totally out of line. And you're right, it seems that I've been on Eve's side because...there's a slight chance that I maybe have a crush on her."

"I knew it!" Ryder exclaimed before getting serious, "And I guess it's not all your fault. Eve is right. I'm a reckless guy who doesn't have anything better to do than cause trouble."

"What? We're too tense all the time, you bring the fun during training. You loosen up. Something we should do. I mean, we're here in the past! We could have fun, go to the beach, go to the library!"

"Woah, stop right there," Ryder laughed, "But I can't. I have to catch that fish. The past few days I spent with him were something I've wanted. If I catch that stupid Zord, then I could see him everyday. I actually love my dad.,"

His father left him for fame all because of a fish. This fish was all it takes to make things right. The past few days with Antonio were one of the best days of his life. He never felt so content with anybody else but his mom. This what he was missing. He wants to get those days back, the days he couldn't spend with his dad. Just catch this fish.

"Ryder, I was trying to find you for another reason. I knew you would find the leaf. I never thought you would actually think you were going to do this. This could really mess up your existence," Then he told Ryder about what had been happening with him and Eve, about how they nearly disappeared.

"Don't you see? We're messing up with the order of events. Eve and I are wrecking our parents relationship. They might never get together by this point and we would have never existed. And have you ever thought what happens when you catch this fish? You are what you are today because of your dad's absence. This could change who you are,"

"Yes because I would be happier!"

"Really? When you catch this fish.." Lewis stopped, knowing this wouldn't go in the intended direction, "You know what? Do what you got to do. But I warned you of the consequences," Lewis walked off, going off to the clearing. Hopefully, Eve would listen.

Antonio came back with two hot dogs "Sorry, the shops nearby are closed. But I found a hot dog cart. So are you ready for a break?"

Ryder hooked the entire bucketful of bait and had a fierce look in his eyes, "No way,"

* * *

**A/N: Thank you guys! **

**I'm off to Disneyland. So I won't be on FF for a while. No announcements but the polls are favoring SPD Classified: Code Samurai. So, you better vote for the sequel title just in case you prefer Samurai Patrol Delta: Chase Through Time or SPD, Samurai, and Time. **

**And let's pray for the victims of the Boston Bombing. It was incredibly sad and my teacher had a friend who was at that marathon who had crossed the finished line way before the bombs detonated. I hope they families of the injured would find some relief and that we will know why this happened. **

***~Phoebee~***


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